2015 NT and COLFAX: 

033317 

THEIR 

LIVES AND SERVICES. 


WITH PORTRAITS, MAPS AND PLANS. 


By. L. P. BROGIvETT, M, D., 

. AUTirOIi OF 

MEN OF OUR day; WOMAN'^ AYOUK IN TIIK OIVIL WAK; HISTORY OF THE OREAT 

rebellion; ouu oreat captains, etc. 


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GRANT and COLFAX : 


THEIR 


LIVES AND SERVICES. 


WITH PORTRAITS, MAPS AND PLANS. 


By. L, P> BROCKETT, M. D., 


AUTHOR OP 


ICEN OP CUE day; WOMAN’8 work in the civil war; niSTOST OP THE aBBAT* 

rebellion; our orbat captains, etc. 


PRICE, TWENTY-FIVE CENTS. 


NEW YORK: 

RICHARDSON AND COMPANY, 

4 BOND STREET. 




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-^ ‘The deep interest felt by the" writer in General Grant’s 

,..-7 1 

movements, which it had been his duty to trace m "a 


history of the laVe'^ wafj^and a careful' sthdy, frohf t^ 
most ample materials, of his whole career, "^'from his child- 
hood t6 the present time,*'have been the motives^'which 
‘have iiidiiced the addition of* this^little* volume to the 

already numerous biographies of the warrior-statesman 
of our time, "'boob oldon Tiodt ^{liigno'xodJ 




While the writer disclaims any scientific 

T 

training, he has not deemed such training indispensable 
to a clear and simple narrative of the great battles of the 
war, in so many of which General Grant participated ; and 
writing for the masses, rather than for military men, he 
has believed accuracy of statement more important than 
scientific nomenclature. He has endeavored to give, 
with more precision and fullness than has been done 
elsewhere, an account of General Grant’s great cam- 
paign of 1864-5, and to avoid exaggerating his earlier 
and minor battles, at the expense of those, which for 


militai’y 


iv 


PEEFAOK, 


magnitude and destructiveness, have never been equaled 
in ancient or modern times. 

The sketch of Mr. Colfax is from authentic sources, 
and he has reason to know receives the sanction of that 
distinguished statesman. Its dates will be found more 
accurate, and its statements more in accordance with 
fact, than those of some of the professedly ‘‘ authorized ” 
lives. . . ^ f,; 

The nomination, almost by acclamation, of these truly 
representative men, for the highest positions in. the gift 

j 

of the people, renders their biographies a matter of deep 
interest to every American citizen, and it is the hope 
of the writer, that no voter will fail to inform himself 
thoroughly concerning their noble deeds and great serv- 
ices to the Republic. ^ j . • , , , 

. L. P. B. 


* Brooklyn, N. Y.; June 30, 1868. 



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CONTENTS 


r, , I ^ 

GENERAL ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT. 

■ ^ 

chjlpter I. 

PXQM 

lineage, birth, and boyhood ^-13 

• - ' i , • 

CHAPTER IL 

At West Point, in the Mexican War, on the Pacific coast, 
in ciril life, and at the opening of the Rebellion. I4~23 

CHAPTER m. 

At Paducah, Belmont, Donelson, and Nashyille — Grant a 


Major-General... 24-41 

; 

CHAPTER IV. r 

-> 

At Pittsburg' Landing. . 42-53 

CHAPTER V. 

At luka and Vicksburg. 54-68 


CHAPTER VI. 

In command of Military Division of Mississippi — Successes 
and honors 




69-81 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

CHAPTER YII. 

Commissioned Lieutenant-Greneral — Campaign of 1864-5 — 

Battles of the Wilderness — Spottsylvania — North Anna 
— Pamunkey — Cold Harbor — The Mine — Deep Bottom — 

Final movements before Petersburg and Richmond — 

Lee’s Surrender — The grade of fuU General conferred. . . 82-103 

.BTKaTVioO 

CHAPTER YIII. 

Since the War — Secretary of War ad interim — The National 
Convention — The Republican Platform — Unanimous nom- 

the ]pre sidency-f-Le tter_^ of Aoceptance-^^^ar- 0 

acter and personal appearance 104-111 


* ■ HON: • SCHUYLER COLEAX/ 


t 


. 1 * - ■ 

^ ^ . CHAPTER I. 

- ■ ' • o' i f'- 

HiS‘ birth,* lineage, and early History. ! ;.* 


''•Ut rj Jr-n^ 

113-118 


.CHAPTER II. 


His entrance: OH political life, and his course in Congress. . . 119-127 

14-42 .. f >0- t; M 

CHAPTER IIL 


His nomination to the Yice-Presidency-i-Acceptance, and 
E^charaoter. . , , . , .^,,,^.128-1.36 


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GENERAL ■ ULYSSES ' SIMPSON GRANT. 


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Li?. 


CHAPTER 





General Grant a lover of peace— His mental • characteristics — A 
^ man of the people— His lineage honest and good, but not aris- 
^ tocratic — His ancestry-^A patriotic Puritan stock — His father* 
~ - and 1 mother— ^Hlannah Simpson had done Veryiiwell, after all’* 

^ — His birth — Early* training— HiS self-possession. — His perse- 
verance— Anecdotes — “ Pick it again” — The swollen creek — 
Loading timber — His kindly nature — Will not be imposed upon. 
^ — Never profane — His school advantages — His father seeks for 
' cadetship for him at' West Point — He is appointed by Hon. 

1 ^ r • 

’ Thomas L. Hamer — The blunder in regard to his nanio.. 

• • 

Our great. captain makes no pretensions to exalted 
genius. He is not one, of those men, who have a pas- 
sion' for war or conquest ; he would never weep with 
Alexander, that there were no more worlds to conquer, 
nor, like Caesar, push his fighting legions beyond the 
pillars, of Hercules, in* search of some simple, unwar- 
like nation, whom he might reduce to subjection; nor 
like the first Napoleon, seek to bring all the nations of 
a continent under his sway. In fact, he is not fond of 
war. Peace is with him the great desideratum, so it be 
an honorable and just peace. Like the Iron Duke, he has 
seen enough of thehorrore of the battle-field ; but he owes 
his great reputation as a military commander, to the firm- 
ness, = pertinacity, and. skill, with which, finding himself 
engaged in a,war/or the right, he has fought it through 
to a successful termination. 'With a strong, vigorous,- 
healthy ^ organization, a clear and well balanced Intel- . 


8 


GENERAL U- S. GRAOT. 


lect, a quiet and even temper, great self-command, ready 
tact, and a wonderful capacity for judging the character 
of men, he possesses such qualifications as will make 
him as successful in civil administration, as he has been 
in military command. 

He is a man of the people. Though of good, honest, 
and patriotic Puritan stock, he traces his ancestry 
back to no lordly aristocrats ; no race of robber kings ; 
no .‘‘ancient but ignoble blood” which has flowed 
“through scoundrels ever since the flood.” It is 
enough for him, that none of the race have ever dishon- 
ored their good name by being traitors to their country, 
cowards in their resistance to its foes, or plunderers of 
its revenues, and what could he ask more ? 

It has been often stated, and on what seemed good 
authority,* that General Grant’s ancestors were of Scot- 
tish origin. If true at all, this statement can only be 
true of his remote ancestry. Matthew Grant, the 
founder of the family in this country, was from the vi- 
cinity of Plymouth, England, and emigrated, with a 
company of intelligent and substantial colonists, to Dor- 
chester, Massachusetts, in 1630. From thence, he, with 
a considerable company of his neighbors, struck into the 
then pathless forest of Central New England, in 1636, 
and established the settlement at Windsor, Connecticut, 
of which he was one of the principal men, and for 
many years town clerk and recorder. The son of Mat- 
thew Grant, Samuel, removed to the adjacent town of 
Tolland, and reared a family. His son Samuel also re- 
sided in Tolland; but Noah Grant, a son of the second 
Samuel, pushed farther eastward, and established him- 
self in Coventry. His sons, Noah and Solomon, were 
both officers in the Colonial troops in the old French 
war, and both were slain in battle near Crown Point, in 


ms ANCP:StRY.'"'^ ■ " & 

1756. Noah Grant, 2d, left a son also -named Noah, 
*who was a lieutenant of militia in the battle of - Lexinsr- 
ton, and fought through the whole Revolutionary war ; 
but thoucch a brave fiorhter in more than a score of bat- 
ties", escaped' un wounded. He settled, after the war, in 
Westmoreland County^ Pennsylvania ; but the’ roving 
and unsettled habits,xbred of his seven years in the 
army, had unfitted him for steady and continuous appli- 
cation to business, and he was poor and dissatisfied, re- 
moving to Columbiana County, Ohio, and afterward to 
Portage County. He had a large family of children, 
and his second wife, a woman of gtcat resolution and 
‘energy, was a better manager than her husband. Jesse 
Root, Grant, one of her sons, was apprenticed to a tan- 
ner ‘ at the age of eleven years, afid acquired a very 
thorouerh knowiedc^e ’ of the business, though not with- 
oiit removing two or three times. In his twenty-first 
■year, he established himself in hiS trade at Ravenna, 
Portage County ; but, after struggling for some years 
with intermittent fever, then prevalent in that portion 
,of Ohio, he removed to the region of the Ohio River in 
1820, and again started a tannery. He was poor, but 
ambitious, and having formed the acquaintance of Miss 
TIannah Simpson, a young woman of excellent charac- 
ter, intelligent, and in somewhat higher social position 
than himself, he married her in June, 1821, though the 
Toint Pleasant people thought that she 'could have done 
better. But the tannCr, though poor, was industrious 
and energetic, ahd the people, life he prospered in his 
business, concluded that, after all, Hannah Simpson had 
done very well. The'tady herself, we believe, had al- 
ways been of that opinion. ^ • 

The young couple pCciipied a small one-sfbry house 

on the banks of the Ohioy in thcwillage of Point Pleas- 
1 * 


10 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


ant, Clermont County, and here, April 27, 1822, Hiram 
Ulysses, since called Ulysses Simpson Grant, was bom. 

The boy was a comely, healthy baby, and inheriting 
from both parents a vigorous constitution, grew to be 
a sturdy, resolute little urchin ; not precocious, but en- 
tirely devoid of fear ; of kindly disposition, fond of a 
horse almost from infancy, and managing and riding 
even spirited and vicious animals when a child of eight 
or ten years, with a skill and courage which was re- 
garded as remarkable by all his neighbors. His self- 
possession was a marked trait of his character from in- 
fancy. That imperturbability which no adverse fortune 
could disturb, which threatened disaster could not 
^hake, and which was so often exhibited during the war, 
in occasions when almost any other general would have 
been excited and disturbed, was no cultivated stoicism, 
but had its origin in the depth of his nature. His 
father relates that when Ulysses was but two years old, 
he took him in his arms and carried him through the 
village on some public occasion, and a young man 
wished to try the effect of the report of a pistol on him. 
Mr. Grant consented, though, as he said, “the child 
had never seen a gun or pistol in his life.” The hand 
of the baby was accordingly put on the lock and pressed 
there quietly, until the pistol was discharged with a 
loud report. The little fellow exhibited no alarm, neither 
winking nor dodging, but presently pushed the pistol 
away, saying “ JE^ch it again ! Fich it again /” 

Another instance of self-possession, still more strik- 
ing, is related of him when under twelve years of age : 
he had been to Cincinnati with a double team and car- 
riage, and was bringing back some young ladies to 
Georgetown, C)hio, where his father then resided ; but 
there had been a heavy rain during the night, and a 


HIS CHILDHOOD, 


11 


creek in his route was swollen and . threatening. 
The boy^ after ' a glance at it, decided that .it could 
safely be forded, and drove in ; the water came up to 
the seat of the carriage, and the J»orses were beginning 
to swim ; the ladies were becoming much alarmed, 
and would probably have sprung from the carriage, but 
Ulysses, calm as a summer’s inorning, turned a moment 
and said, ‘iSit still, ladies, I will bring you through 
safe,” and drove on. He did bring them through, but 
seemed entirely unconscious that he had done any thing 
extraordinary. i . j 

Another incident related by his father, illustrates that 
resolute will and determination to accomplish his pur- 
pose somehow, which in his military career, was so 
strikingly manifested by his varied efforts to work out 
.the Vicksburg problem, and by his declared intention 
at Spottsylvania, “to fight it out on this line ifdt takes 
all summer.” When Ulysses was twelve years of age, 
his father wanted several sticks of hewn timber from the 
forest, and sent him with the. team to draw them to the 
village, telling him that men would be there with hand- 
spikes to helpi load them on to the wagom The boy 
went with the team, but on arriving. at his destination 
the men were not there,- and, after some little delay, 
they still did not ’ appear,. He had been sent for the 
timber, however, and he had no intention of going home 
without it. Looking about, he observed at a little dis- 
tance a tree which had fallen over,; and was leaning 
againstt another, its, trunk forming an inclined plane. 
This, he reasoned, would enable him to get the timber 
into his .wagon ;‘ accordinglyy lie took out his horses, 
and hitching them to the logs, drew them up to the 
foot of the fttllen tree, and, backing his wagon . to the 
^de of the inclined plane, he,.pushed and-dr0\y the 


GENERAL Uj’g: GRANT. 


timber, piece after- piece, up the inclined plane', and 
hauled it into- the wagon, and with his load seciured, 
drove home triumphantly. ' * 

Ulysses,’’ ' says^ his father, “ had a very peaceable, 
equable disposition, and had no inclination to quarrel, 
but he would not be iniposed upon7 On one occasion, 
when he was* quite small, he rescued an inoffensive boy, 
who worked for us, from a trick which a large number 
of his companions were about to perpetrate upon him. 
'The whole crowd then made for Ulysses, and he' came 
home for a gun to defend himself. But he was never 
known to pick a quarrel with anyone'. Neither was he 
in' the habit of swearing.- Indeed — notwithstanding he 
has served so long in tlie army — I never knew or heard 

•• • * i ' ft 9 • 

of his using a profane word!” ‘ 

In -school the boy was faithful, diligent, and pains- 
taking ; not a genius, who acquired knowledge without 
study, but a boy who appreciated the value of an edu- 
cation, and who was hot to be disheartened in his efforts 
to obtain one. However difficult his lessons might " be, 
arid however severe the study required to master them, 
he never gave Up to discouragement, but if one method 
or resourbe failed, was ^ always ready to try another. 
He had some natural taste fon mathematics, and for the 
time and' the" schools oT that section, had made^dair 
progress in ‘ these studies.^ " But the ' advantages of 
school- training' Were limited by the want of good 
schools in the " village, the * small portion of the year 
{only three months) in which he could attend/* and the 
straitened circumstances of his father, which did not 
permit him to send his ^ son ’ abroad for an 'education. 
An education^, however, • young < Grant determined to 
have/^and his father was also very desirous^ that he 
should obtain it. He had reached the age of seventeen, 


HIS EARLY EDUCATION'. 


13 


when it was decided that the effort should be made to 
secure an appointment as cadet at West Point. Appli- 
cation was first made to Hon. Thomas Morris, then U. 
S. Senator from Ohio, but Mr. Morris had already 
pledged himself to another applicant, and so informed 
Mr. Grant, but at the same time notified him of a va- 
cancy in the gift of Hon. Thomas L. Hamer, the member 
of Congress from Grant’s' own district, the ‘ young man 
wliom he had appointed, having for some cause, failed 
to enter. JVIr. Grant immediately corresponded with Mr. 
•Hamer, who promptly appointed Ulysses to the vacant 
cadetship. Having successfully passed his preliminary 
examination, the young' cadet entered the Academy, 
'July 1, 1339. " ^ 

It was at this time and by a blunder^of Gen. Hamer, 
that his ^original name, Hiram Ulysses, was exclianged 
for that which he (has since made so famous. General 
Hamer, in nominating him, had -reported his name to 
the Examiner at West Point as Ulvsses S.«Grant, prob- 
ably with some indistinct idea that he-had two names, 
and that, as he was always called Ulysses, the second 
name wa^ probably Simpsorf, from his mother’s maiden 
lianie. However this may be, the young cadet' found 
himself on his admission entered as Ulysses ' Sidney 
Grant. *He endeavored, but in vain, to have it changed 
on the records of thc'Academy, and when he had grad- 
uated, he substituted Simpson for ' Sidney whicli he 

had always repudiated, and thenceforth wrote the name 


U. S^ Grant. 


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CHAPTER n. 



In the Military Academy — Only thirty-nine of the hundred grad-- 

A I 

uate — Hia standing — Hia clasamates — Brevet Second Lieuten- 
ant — Jefferson Barracks — Bed River — In the Mexican war — 
Distinguishes himself — Major Lee’s testimony — Flanking. — 
Marriage — Sackett’s Harbor — Ordered to Pacific Coast— Fron- 
tier duty — Promoted to a Captaincy — Resigns — Hia 'reasons — 
Returns to the' East — A farmer — Not successful — Hauling 
wood — Real estate agency — Custom-house — Situation at Gale- 
na — ^Approach of the war — Fort Sumter-^Oflfers his services to 
the Governor — Neglected at first — Adjutant-General — Colonel 
of Twenty-first Illinois. — March to Quincy. — On the Hannibal 
and St. - Joseph Railroad — Brigadier-General — Mrs. Selvidge’s 
pie-— Cairo — Smithland — Paducah. if , ^ • 


In the Military, Academy Grant was studious, atten- 
tive to , all his duties, and though he had not enjoyed 
the advantages of many of his, classmates in early edu- 
cation, he soon took a good position in scholarship, 
while his amiable disposition won him the friendship of 
all his classmates. The • examinations at this period 
.were very severe, and of Grant’s class, which numbered 

one hundred in 1839, only thirty-nine graduated in 1843. 

» 

He stood No, 21, his standing being very high in artil- 
lery and infantry tactics, mathematics, engineering, and 
horsemanship, and fair in the other studies. During 
his last year he was commanding officer of cadets. 
Major-General Franklin, and Generals Ingalls, Steele, 
and Judah, were among his classmates. As there was 
no existing vacancy, he was on his graduation brevet- 


m MEXICO. 


15 


ted second lieutenant of the Fourth Infantry Regiment, 
and for a time after joining his regiment, then at Jef- 
ferson Barracks, near St. Louis, was required to per; 
form the duties of a private soldier.* In 1844, he re- 
moved with his regiment up the Red River, in Louisi- 
ana. There began now to be rumors of war between 
Mexico .and the United States, in consequence of the 
annexation of Texas, and in 1845, General Taylor was 
sent to the border in command of an “ army of occu- 
pation,’’ and of this army young Grant’s regiment, the 
Fourth Infantry, was a part. Grant had meantime 
been promoted to the rank of first lieutenant of the 
Seventh Infantry; but preferring to remain with his 
old regiment, where there seemed more chance of see- 
ing service, he accepted instead the second-lieutenancy, 
then vacant, in that regiment. 

In May, 1846, Lieutenant Grant, with his regiment^ 

moved forward to Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, 
* 

and in both those battles he distinguished himself for 
gallantry and courage. In the subsequent storming of 
Monterey, he .received honorable mention from his com- 
mander for his good conduct. ^ In April, 1847, after the 
.capture of Vera Cruz, in which he had participated, the 
young lieutenant was appointed quartermaster of his 
regiment, and served in this capacity, through the re- 
mainder of the campaign ; but he showed no disposition 
to avail himself of his privilege of remaining in his 

.■ M. . ■ ' 

^ ♦ Wliile here he formed the acquaintance of the lady whom he 

married five years later, Miss Julia S. Dent. She was the sister of 
Lieutenant (now Brigadier-General) Frederick T. Dent, a classmate 
of General Grant, and, like him, a brevet second lieutenant in the 
Fourth Infantry. Lieutenant Dent’s family were residents of St. 
Louis. 


Id geneeal tt. s. geant. 

own department in time of ‘battle. In the autumn of 
1847, at the desperate assault of Molino del Rey, and 
at the storming of Chapultepec, five days later, Lieu- 
tenant Grant exhibited such daring, and acted so prompt- 
ly and fearlessly, as to receive the high commendation 
of his superior officers, and to be promoted to a first- 
lieutenancy on the spot. Among those who spoke in 
the highest terms of his gallantry and daring on these 
occasions, was Major Francis Lee, then commanding the 
'Fourth Infantry. The following is the language of his 

. rr t - j 

report of the storming of Chapultepec : — 

‘‘ At the first barrier the enemy was in strong force, 
whieh rendered it necessary to advance with caution. 
This was done : and when the head of the battalion was 
•within short ‘musket-range of the barrier. Lieutenant 
Grant, Fourth Infantry, and Captain Brooks, Second 
Artillery, with a few men of their respective regiments, 
by a handsome movement to the left, turned the right 
flank of the ene'my, and the barrier was carried. Lieu- 
tenant Grant behaved with distinguished gallantry on 
the isth and 14th of September.” For this ^achieve- 
ment he was bre vetted captain, his rank to date from 
September 13, 1847. During the Mexican war. Lieu- 
tenant Grant participated in fourteen battles. 

After the clo^e bf the war the volunteers were mus- 
tered out of service, and the officers and soldiers of the 
regular army distributed among the forts and posts on 
the frontiers. In August, 1848, Lieutenant Grant mar- 
ried Miss Dent, and soon after was ordered to Detroit, 

•*.:a ' ^ 

'Michigan, and, after a time, to- the post of Sackett’s 
Harbor, New York, where in the quiet of peace he im- 
proved his leisure by the study of military science. In 
the autumn of 1851, the Fourth Infantry was ordered 
to the Pacific coast to preserve order, which was greatly 


HIS FRONTIER LIFE. 


17 


endangered by the reckless and vicious emigrants who 
flocked thither after the discovery of gold. 

^ He arrived in California in 1852, and, after a short 
period of service at Benicia, California, his battalion 
was ordered on frontier duty at Columbia Barracks, 
Oregon, and a year and a half later transferred to Fort 
Vancouver, Oregon. It was while at this distant fron- 
tier station that he received his commission as captain, 
August 5, 1853. From Fort Vancouver he was ordered, 
still on frontier duty, to Fort Humboldt, California, in 
the spring of 1854. ' 

But he wearied of this rough, boisterous, aimless 
frontier life. He had been separated from his wife and 
his little children for more than two years, as they 
could not endure the hardships of the frontier, and he 
felt that the associations with which he was surrounded 
were more fitted to demoralize and degrade him than 
to secure his advancement. Further promotion was 
only to be hoped for in the distant future ; he had been 
promoted to a captaincy only after, eleven years of 
hard service, and the next step might be quite as dis- 
tant. He determined, therefore, to resign his commis- 
sion, and at the age of thirty-two virtually began life 
anew. His wife and children had been at his father’s, 
and he now removed with them to a small farm, nine 
miles from St. Louis, which Mrs. Grant’s father had 
given her, and which Mr. Jesse Grant had stocked for 
his son. 

He labored hard on this farm for four years, but he 
was not successful. The farm was not a fertile one ; 
and though he tried to make up for its deficiencies by 
cutting and hauling wood from it to St. Louis, and found 
a ready market for his wood, yet he did not improve 
his financial condition. Tha^t this was not due to any 


18 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


negligence or any intemperate habits on his part is fully 
proved by the testimony of, his brother officers and 
friends, who still- maintained their acquaintance and 
intimacy with him. The y>* all testify to his strict tem- 
perance, his industry, and his perseverance. Finding, 
at last, that he could not make farming pay, he removed 
to St. Louis and entered the real estate business with 
a man named Boggs. After a few months, he found 
that the profits of the business were not sufficient for the 
support of two families ; and with that unselfish spirit 
which has always characterized him, he said to his part- 
ner, ‘-You may take the whole of this, and I will look 
up something else to do.” He next obtained a place 
in the Custom-house, which he held for about two 
months, when the collector who appointed him died 
and he left< 

His father, meantime, had been amassing a fortune. 
He now resided at Covington, Kentucky, and his tan- 
neries, under his own management and that of his sons, 
had become very profitable. He had himself retired 
from active labor, but still continued his interest in the 
business. A short time previous to Captain Grant’s 
removal from his farm to St. Louis, the father had es- 
tablished a leather store at Galena, Illinois, which was 
conducted by two of his sons. He now offered the ex- 
captain a position and interest in this, and it was 
thankfully accepted. The house did a good business 
from the besfinnino:. Their leather had an excellent 
reputation, and their dealings were honorable and 
fair. Meantime there were dark clouds lowering in 
the national sky, and the hoarse mutterings of the 
storm, which was so soon to burst, were heard. 
The ex-captain had never been much of- a poli- 
tician.; but here was a catastrophe approaching 


HB RAISES A COMPANY. , 19 

• • t . ... f ‘ 

which would soou transcend all party politics, and 
which threatened to bury the nation itself in ruin ; and 
it behooved him, in his quiet way, to be a careful watcher 
of the coming, events. When at last the echo of the 
guns which were^ bombarding Fort Sumter, on the 12th 
and 13th of April, 1861, resounded over the land and 
ffave token that the rebel leaders had commenced war 

O J . J . j .. . . . , 

upon the nation, the quiet business man, witliout ado 
or delay, abandoned his business and gave liimself to 
the cause of his country. The nation had educated 
him, and 'though he had served more than the pre- 
scribed time to which he was pledged in the army, he 
still felt that in the hour of his country’s peril she had 
a strong claim upon him for further service. To raise 
a company, and march with it to Springheld and tender 
it, to the 'governor, was his first act, and was soon ac- 
complished. One of the members of Congress from 
Illinois (lion. E. 1>. Washburne) wrote to Governor 
Yates, recommending JNIr. Grant for a military com- 
niand ; but at that time, inexperienced in the work of 
selecting officers to command his troops, and naturally 
enough supposing that an officer should be a man of 
imposing figure and lofty stature, Governor Yates 
looked with some curiosity upon the small man, so 
plainly clad, who seemed so diminutive in comparison 
with some ,of the stalwart gigantic applicants, and gave 
him' no appointment. 

It was not long, however, before the governor found 
Inmself embarrassed by his want* of knowledge of the 
detail necessary in the organization of troops, and call- 
ing upon his Cpngressional friend, he inquired if that 
little man whom • he had recommended to him under*, 
stood, these- matters. The ^ representative answered by 
bringing Grant to_ the govpinor, and finding, on inquiry. 


20 


GENERAL XT. 8, GBAISTT. 


that he was perfectly conversant with these details, the 
governor at once made him his adjutant-general. In 
this position he worked indefatigably, and soon suc- 
ceeded in bringing order out of confusion. The gov- 
ernor was now called upon by the President to name 
two officers for promotion to the rank of brigadier- 
general, and proposed the name of his adjutant-general 
for one ; but Grant declined, as he had not earned the 
promotion. 

In J une, the three months’ troops being organized, 
Adjutant-General Grant made a flying visit to his 
father at Covington, Kentucky, and while there a com- 
mission was sent him from Governor Tates as colonel 
of the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers. The colonel 
originally appointed to the command of this regiment, 
one of Governor Yates’s fine, commanding-looking men, 
had proved utterly wanting in military capacity, and 
his regiment had fallen into disorder. The governor 
had refused to commission him, and inquired of Grant 
by telegraph if he would take the command of the tur- 
bulent regiment. He consented, and hastened to join 
his regiment at Mattoon, where it was organized, and 
removed it to Caseyville for encampment. The new 
colonel made no display of authority, and was not in 
the least boisterous, but by the quiet influence of exam- 
ple, and the exercise of his remarkable tact, he soon 
had the regiment under the strictest discipline, and in a 
month, from being the most turbulent and disorderly 
regiment in the State, it became the model organization. 
At this time Quincy, Illinois, was thought to be in 
danger, and an application was made to the governor 
for a force for its protection. It was difficult to find 
transportation, for Quincy w^is a hundred and twenty 
miles distant, and the railroads were unable to furnish a 


HE IS APPOINTED BEIGADIEB-GENERAL. 


21 


sufficient number of cars.* Colonel Grant heard of the 
governor’s difficulty, and sent him word, — 

“ Send my regiment, and I will find the transporta- 
tion.” 

The governor at once gave orders to send the Twenty- 
first Regiment, and before night it commenced its march 
on foot, and arrived in due season in excellent order. 

The first service to which the Twenty-first Illinois 
was assigned was .to guard the Hannibal and St. Jo- 
seph’s Railroad. Several regiments having been ordered 
to this service, it was necessary that one of the regi- 
mental commanders should become acting brigadier- 
general, and control the whole, as no brigadier-general 
had been assigned to the command. For this office 
Grant, though the youngest colonel on the ground, was 
selected, and took command at Mexico, Missouri, July 
31, 1861. On the 9th of August, Colonel Grant was 
commissioned brigadier-general, his commission dating 
from May 19, 1861, and sent with an adequate force to 
Southern Missouri, where the rebel General Jeff Thomp- 
son was threatening an advance. He visited Ironton, 
superintended the erection of fortifications there and at 
Marble Creek, and, leaving a garrison in each place to 
defend it, 'hastened to Jefferson City, which was also 
threatened, and protected it from rebel attacks for ten 
days, when Thompson, having abandoned his purpose. 
General Grant left the Missouri capital to enter upon 
the command of the important district of Cairo. 

It was while he was in Southern Missouri, his biogra- 
phers say, that he issued his famous special order con- 
cerning Mrs. Selvidge’s pie. The incident, which illus- 
trates somewhat forcibly the quiet humor which is a 
marked characteristic of the general, was something 
like this : — ‘ i . 


23 


GENERAL E. S. GEA;NT.- ■ 


In the rapid marches of his force in Southern Mis- 
souri, their rations were often scanty, and "^not very 
palatable, but the region-* was ' poor- and sparsely set- 
tled, and, for the most part, there was no chance of 
procuring food from' the inhabitants 5f the country 
through which they were passing. At length, how- 
ever, they emerged into a better and more cultivated 
section, and Lieutenant Wickham, of an Indiana cavalry 
regiment, who was in command of the advance guard 
of eight men, halted at a* farm-house of somewhat more 


comfortable appearance than any which they had 

passed, and Entered dhe dwelling with two second lieu- 

tenants.' Pfetendirig to be Brigadier-General Grant, he 

demanded food for himself and his staff The family, 

whose loyalty was somewhat doubtful, alarmed at the 

idea of the Union general being on their premises, 

hastily brought forward the best their house afforded, 

at the same time loudly ^protesting their attachment to 
, » • 

the Union cause. ‘The lieutenants ate their fill, and, 

offering to compensate their hosts, were told that there 

was ' nothing to pay; whereupon they went on their 

way, chuckling at their adroitness in getting so good a 

dinner for -nothing.^ ‘ * n > 

Soon after. General Grant, who had -halted his army 

for a short rest a few miles * further back, came up, and 
* » ■ • 

being rather favorably impressed with the appearance 
of the' farm-house, rode up to the door and asked if they 
would cook him a meal. The woman, who grudged the 
'food already furnished to the self-styled general and 

• f ^ , A 

his staff, ‘ replied gruffly n?: 

No! General' Grant and his staff have just been 
here, and eaten • every thing in the house, except one 
pumpkin-pie.” : - ' ,> t a . 

‘‘ Ah !” said Grant, “ what is your name 


23 


MRS. SELVIDOe’s PIE. 


“ Selvidge,” answered the woman. 

Tossing her a half-dollar, the general asked : — 

“ Will you keep that pie till I send an officer for it ?” 

“ I will,” said the^woman.. t i i 

' , .1 . k . A ^ 

The general and staff rode on, and soon a camping 
ground was selected, and the 'regiments were notifi^ 
that there would be a grand parade'at half-past six for 
orders. This was unusual, and neither officers nor men 
could imagine what was coming. Tlie parade was 
.formed, however, ten columns deep, and a quarter of a 
mile -in length. After the usual review, the assistant 
adjutant-general read the following : — ' 

^ ^ Head-quarters, Army in the Field. 

•• . — T - - 

Special Order, JSfo. . . 

Lieutenant Wickham, of the ; Indiana Cavalry, having - on 

this day eaten every thing in_Mrs. Selvldge’s house, at the crossing 
ofjthe Iron ton and Pocahontas and Black River and Cape Girardeau 
-roads, exceptone pumpkin-pie, jlieutenant- Wickham is hereby ordered 
to return with- an escort of one hundred cavalry and eat that pie also. 

U. S. GRANT, 

I n .. .n ITT .{ rf , Brigadier-Gcneral Commanding. 




To .attempt to evade this order Avas useless, and-, at 
seven o’clock the lieutenant filed out of camp Avith his 
hundred men, amid the cheers of the Avhole army. The 
escort witnessed the eating of the pie*, the whole of 
which the lieutenant succeeded in deVouring, and re- 
turned to camp. t ' 

7 - ..-fi . ,s. t . ( '• 

• - • .. ■ -''i ^ 3 

• • ~T " *V ^ ^ T t 

• « . - . * 1 : 1 'i : ** . I ■ . 'i*, i ‘ ‘ y ^ - 

.1- ^ ' di 1-t . Ui> ]•• ^ -{Ur . - 


4 


' i> 1 j'" -u i ’ *• 
U’ ‘ •* . ! 






.n 


...j , f 




i 


CHAPTER HI. 

4 ' 

; 1 • ■ ’ 

Importance of Cairo as a military post — The advance of the rebels 
into Kentucky — Gen. Grant takes possession of Paducah and 
Smithland — Rage of the 'rebels— -jGen. Grant’s '.proclamation — 
Bishop-General Polk — Exchange of prisoners — Grant don’t recog- 
nize any Southern Confederacy — The toasts — Operations in S. E. 
Missouri — Col. Plummer’s expedition — Its success-^The battle of 
Belmont — Sharp fighting — Essentially a Union victory — Gen. 
Grant’s command enlarged — Reconnoissance in force — The expe- 
dition against Fort Henry, and its capture — Flag-Officer Foote — 
Gen. Grant marches against Fort Donelson — Incidents of the 
siege — Repulse of Union troops — Pillow’s dispatch, “Upon the 
honor of a soldier, the day is ours.” — Gen. C. F. Smith’s charge — 
“Steady I men; steady 1” — The rebel council of war — Floyd and 
Pillow determine to steal away — Buckner’s letter to Grant — 
Grant’s reply — “Unconditional and Immediate Surrender.” — “I 
propose to move immediately upon your works.” — Surrender of 
Fort Donelson — ^The amount of troops and supplies — Clarksville 
and Nashville fall — Grant a Major-General — The Charge of Drunk- 
. enness — Its falsity — Grant’s new command — His general order 
— ^Pillaging prohibited. 

The post of Cairo, the head-quarters of the district, 

to the command of which General Grant was now or- 

> 

dered, was one, from its position, of great importance to 
the Union cause. It commanded both the Ohio and the 
Upper Mississippi, and was the depot of supplies for an 
extensive region above, and subsequently below. Grant’s 
command extended along the shores of the Mississippi 
as far as Cape Girardeau, and on the Ohio to the mouth 
of Green River, and included Western Kentucky. That 
State at this time was trying to maintain a neutral po- 
sition^ favoring neither the Union nor the rebels, a posi- 


THE REBELS IN KENTUCKY. 


25 


tion which was as absurd as it was soon found to 
be impossible. The rebels were the* first to cross the 
lines and take possession of the important towns of Co- 
lumbus and Hickman, on the Mississippi, and Bowling 
Green, on the Green River, all of which they fortified. 



tucky’s professed neutrality, and as they afibrded him 

ample justification for occupying positions within the 
2 


26 


GENERAL IT, S. GRANT. 


State, lie quietly sent ’a body of troops on the 6th of 
September up the Ohio to Paducah, a town at the mouth 
of the Tennessee, and took possession of it at the time 
when the secessionists there were looking for the entry 
of the rebel troops, who were marching to occupy it. 
The rage of these enemies of the country can be better 
imagined than described. Rebel flags w^ere flaunted in 
the faces of our troops, and they were told that they 
should not long retain possession of the town. 

This did not, however, in the least disturb the equa- 
nimity of General Grant. He issued a proclamation to 
the inhabitants, informing them of his reasons for taking 
possession of the town, and that he was prepared to de- 
fend the citizens against the enemy ; and added, signifi- 
cantly, that he had nothing to do with opinions, but 
should deal only with armed rebellion, and its aiders 
and abettors. On the 25th of September he dispatched 
a force to Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumberland 
River, and took possession of that town also. The 
principal avenues through which the rebels had ob- 
tained supplies of food, clothing, arms and ammunition, 
from the ISTorth, were thus effectually closed. When 
General Grant was assigned to the command at Cairo, 
General McClernand’s briga*de and some other troops 
were added to his own brigades. Having taken pos- 
session of Paducah and Smithland, he now began to 
turn his attention to Columbus, Kentucky, an import- 
ant position, held by the rebel Major-General Polk, 
bishop of the diocese of Louisiana, in the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, with a force of twenty thousand 
men. He had nearly completed his affangements for 
attacking the fort, when the Government ordered him 
to send five of hk regiments to St. Louis ; this left him 
too weak to make the attack with any hope of success. 


GENERAL GRANT AND GENERAL POLK. 27, 

Meantime there had been some correspondence, by flag 
of truce, between General Grant and General Polk, con- 
cerning an exchange of prisoners, of which each side had 
taken a considerable number. General Polk commenced 
the correspondence proposing! the exchange, and re- 
ferred repeatedly in his communication to the Con- 
federate army and the Confederate States. General 
Grant replied that he had no authority to make ex- 
changes : that he recognized no Southern Confederacy 
himself, but would confer with higher authorities for 
their views, and should he not be sustained, would find 
means of communicating with him. It is to this period 
that the story told by General J. Grant Wilson of the 
two commanders, belongs, if, indeed, it is any thing be- 
yond the invention of some ingenious newspaper writer. 
At any rate, if not true, it deserves to have been ; so 
our readers shall have it : “ Flags of truce were occa- 
sionally sent back and forth between Cairo and Colum- 
bus, and the opposing generals who were in command 
of those posts were sometimes present. On one occa- 
sion General Polk proposed a toast which he said all 
could drink. Tliose present filled their glasses, and he 
gave, ‘ To General George Washington.’ As he paused, 
purposely, at the end of the name, the company com- 
menced to drink, when he added, ‘the first rebel.’ 
General Grant exclaimed, ‘ that was scarcely fair. Gen- 
eral, but I will be even with you some day.’ The 
laugh was, of course, against him, but the company 
parted in good humor. Some two weeks afterward, an- 
other flag of truce was sent down to Columbus, General 
Grant accompanying it. After business was over, Gen- 
eral Grant adroitly turned the conversation upon State 
rights. He allowed them to proceed at considerable 
length without attempting to refute any thing. At 


28 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


length he arose to go, and proposed a toast at parting. 
Glasses were filled, and the General arose and gave, 
‘ Equal rights to all.’ He then made a pause, as Gen- 
eral Polk had done, and when all were busily drinking, 
he added, ‘ white and black,’ and turning to the Bish- 
op-General with a bow, said, ‘ and now. General, I think 
I am even with you.’ The reverend and gallant Gen- 
eral owned up flanked.” 

On the 16th of October, General Grant having learned 
that the rebel General Jeff. Thompson was approaching 
Pilot Knob, Missouri, and evidently preparing an ex- 
tensive raid through Southeastern Missouri, ordered fif- 
teen hundred men, under Colonel Plummer, then sta- 
tioned at Cape Girardeau, to move toward Frederick- 
town, Missouri, by way of Jackson and Dallas, forming 
a junction at the latter place with Colonel Carlin, who 
had been ordered to move with three thousand men 
from another point, and pursuing Thompson, to defeat 
and rout his force. The expeditions were successful. 
Thompson was found on the 21st of October, not far 
from Dallas, on the Greenville road, and after an action 
of two and a half hours, defeated and routed with very 
heavy loss. Colonel Plummer captured in this engage- 
ment forty-two prisoners and one twelve-pounder. 

By this expedition. General Grant ascertained the 
position and strength of Jeff. Thompson’s forces, and 
learned also that the rebels were concentrating a con- 
siderable force at Belmont, Missouri, nearly opposite 
Columbus, Kentucky, with a view to blockade the Mis- 
sissippi Piver, and to move speedily upon his position at 
Cairo. Having received orders to that effect from his 
superior officers. General Grant resolved to break up 
this camp, although aware that the rebels could be re- 
enforced to almost any extent from Columbus, Kentucky. 


THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 


29 


On the evening of the 6th of November, General 
Grant embarked two brigades, in all about two thou- 
sand eight hundred and fifty men, under his own -and 
General McClernand’s command, on board river steam- 
ers, and moved down the Mississippi. lie had pre- 
viously detached small bodies of troops to threaten 
Columbus from different directions, and to deceive the 
rebels as to his intentions. The ruse was successful, 
and the force which he commanded in person reached 
the vicinity of Belmont, and landed before the enemy 
had comprehended tlieir intention. The Union troops, 
disembarking with great promptness, marched rapidly 
toward the rebel camp, a distance of about two and a 
lialf miles, and, forcing their way through a dense 
abatis and other obstructions, charged through the 
camp, capturing their camp equipage, artillery, and 
small-arms, and burned the tents, blankets, &c. They 
also took a large number of prisoners. The rebel force 
at the camp was not far from four thousand, but Gen- 
eral Polk, learning of the attack, sent over as re-eiiforce- 
inents eight regiments, or somewhat more than four 
thousand more troops, under the command of Generals 
Pillow and Cheatham, and finally crossed the river 
himself and took command. General Grant, having 
accomplished all, and more than he expected, and being 
aware that Belmont was covered by the batteries at 
Columbus, and that heavy re-enforcements could readily 
be sent from thence, made no attempt to hold the posi- 
tion, but withdrew in good order. On their way to 
their transports, the Union troops were confronted by 
the fresh rebel force under Polk’s command, and a 
severe battle ensued, during which a considerable 
number of the rebel prisonei*s made their escape ; and 
there were heavy losses in killed and wounded on 


30 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


both sides, the Union loss amounting to nearly one 
hundred killed, and four or five hundred wounded and 
mifesing, the larger part of whom were prisoners. AYliat 
was the exact rebel loss has never transpired, but it is 
■ known to have been larger than this, the number of 
prisoners alone exceeding the total Union loss. The 
Union troops at length succeeded in reaching their 
transports and re-embarking, under the protection of 
the gun-boats Tyler and Lexington^ which had con- 
voyed them, bringing with them two cannon which 
they had captured, and spiking two others, wdiich they 
were obliged to abandon. This action, which was 
represented in some quarters as a Union defeat, proved 
to have been rather a Union victory, the advantage 
being decidedly on the part of General Grant, his men 
having, by the action, gained confidence in themselves 
and in their commander. 

On the 20th of December, General Halleck, who was 
then in command of the western department, reorgan- 
ized the districts of his command, and enlarged the 
district of Cairo, including in it all the southern portion 
of Illinois, all of Kentucky west of the Cumberland 
River, and the southern counties of Missouri, and ap- 
pointed General Grant commander of the new district. 
Large numbers of troops, newly mustered into the 
service, and as yet untrained to military duties, poured 
into this district, some for service within its limits, 
others intended to re-enforce the armies in other dis- 
tricts. General Grant maintained a vigilant supervision 
over these, and, wherever it was possible, subjected 
them to a thorough discipline, organization, and train- 
ing, to qualify them for service, and then distributed 
them as rapidly as possible to the various posts within 
his district, or, when so directed, to other points. On 


REC0NN0I3SANCE IN FORCE. 


31 


. the 10th of January, 1802, the troops under the com- 
mand of General McClernand were sent in transports, 
convoyed by two gun-boats, to Fort Jelferson, Ken- 
tucky, and landed there, the gun-boats being ordered 
to lie off the fort. The rebels attacked these gun-boats 
with three vessels the next day, but were beaten off 
after a brisk engagement, and pursued till they took 
refuge under the batteries of Columbus. 

On the 14tli of January, 1862, General Grant made 
an extended reconnoissaiice in force, moving in three 
columns, by different routes, to explore the country east 
• of Columbus, and ascertain the rebel strength and posi- 
tion, with a view to an important enterprise soon to be 
undertaken. The reconnoissaiice was a severe and la- 
■ borious one for raw troops, on account of the weather 
and 'tlie condition of the roads, but it was in every 
respect successful. On this march. General Grant issued 
general orders, the first, it is believed, issued during the 
war, prohibiting, under the severest penalties, all private 
plundering and straggling, and directing the order of 
march. The gun-boats whicli had been constructed 
during the autumn and winter on the Mississippi, above 
Cairo, were now completed, and General Grant called 
for volunteers from the troops to man them, as there 
was a lack of sailors to make up the complement for 
their efticient management. The number of volunteers 
proved sufficient, and the gun-boat flotilla, under the 
command of Flag-officer (afterward Ilear-Admiral) A. 
H. Foote, was soon ready for action. 

Grant kept up his feint of attacking Columbus, and 
by his movements and general orders, issued for effect, 
led the rebels to concentrate at that point most of their 
available forces, while he was preparing for a flank 
movement in a different direction, which would compel 


32 


GENERAL U. 8. GRANT. 


them to evacuate that post without his striking a blow. 
Two large divisions were secretly concentrated at Pa- 
ducah and Smithland, at the mouths of the Tennessee 
and Cumberland Rivers, under the command of Generals 
C. F. Smith and Lewis Wallace; and the other two di- 
visions under his command, which were apparently ready 
to pounce upon Columbus, were quietly withdrawn, and 
one being left to hold his base at Cairo, the other was 
transferred by night to Paducah, on the night of Feb- 
ruary 2d, and, with the troops already there, moved di- 
rectly upon Fort Henry on the Tennessee River. The 
gun-boats were also moving for the same point, and ar- 
rived on the morning of February 6th, in advance of 
the troops, who were delayed by the condition of the 
roads. Grant was hastening forward as rapidly as pos- 
sible, and was prepared to cut olf the retreat of the 
garrison. Flag-officer Foote, having ascertained that 



the rebels were expecting re-enforcements, resolved to 
attack the fort without waiting for the land forces to 
come up. He did so ; and, after an engagement of an 


INVESTMENT OF FORT DONELSON. 


33 


hour and a quarter, tlie garrison surrendered the fort, 
tlie rebel forces outside having made their escape to 
Fort Donelson. 

General Grant came up within an hour, and the fort 
and its contents were handed over to him. The dispo- 
sitions he liad made would have insured its capture the 
same day, had Flag-officer Foote not anticipated the 
time of attack. 

The capture of Fort Henry, however, was but one 
item in the programme which General Grant had marked 
out for accomplishment. Fort Donelson, a much larger 
and stronger work, and defended by a garrison of more 
than twenty thousand men, and lying nearly east of 
Fort Henry, still obstructed the passage of the Cumber- 
land, and forbade the advance of the Union forces 
southward. To possess himself of this important for- 
tress was the design of General Grant, and ordering up 
all tlie available forces of his district to join him on the 
strip of land lying between the Tennessee and Cumber- 
land Rivers, near the Kentucky line, on the 11th of Feb- 
ruary the three divisions constituting his force, under 
the command of Generals McClernand, C. F. Smith, and 
Lewis Wallace, moved by different routes toward Fort 
Donelson, and by the evening of the 12th were in front 
of the fort. General Grant proceeded at once to put 
them in position to invest the fort, though, owing to the 
non-arrival of the gun-boats, which had been obliged to 
descend the Tennessee and ascend the Cumberland, the 
river front of the fort was still open. On the morning 
of the 13th the Carondelet, the only gun-boat which had 
arrived, by General Grant’s direction, engaged the fort 
for two hours, and then withdrew. The object of this 
diversion was to give time for the remainder of his 
troops and the gun-boats to arrive by way of the river. 

2 * 


84 


GENERAL TJ. S. GRANT. 


On the 14th, the gun-boats and troops having arrived, a 
combined attack by the land and marine forces was or- 
dered. The principal attack was made by the gun-boats, 
which silenced the water-batteries; but, after a pro- 
tracted contest, two of the iron-dads were disabled by 
plunging shots from the higher batteries, and two others 
so much injured that a single shot might disable them 
entirely. Under these circumstances. Flag-officer Foote, 
who had already been wounded, decided to withdraw 
from the action. General Grant now proposed to re- 
duce the fort by siege, but on the morning of the 15th 



the enemy made a sudden and desperate sortie from 
their works upon the extreme right of the Union line, 
and at first broke it and captured two batteries of artil- 
lery. Very soon the troops were rallied, re-enforcements 
brought up, and all but three of the captured guns re- 


ASSAULT ON FORT D0NEL30N. 


35 


taken. The rebels in turn were re-enforced, and again 
broke tlirougli the Union lines and drove back the sup- 
porting regiments, holding the position they had gained 
witli great tenacity. At this time the Union center had 
advanced and gained some successes in the rebel line, 
but so successful had the rebels been on the Tight that 
the day seemed lost. General Pillow, the second officer 
in command in the rebel fort, telegraphed to Nashville, 

“ Upon the honor of a soldier, tlie day is ours.” But 
while some of the Union officers gave way to despond- 
ency, no such feeling found a place in the heart of 
General Grant. At the darkest moment, he exclaimed 
to one of his staff, after comparing the reports of the 
officers sent into head-quarters, “ Good ! we have them 
now exactly where we want them.” General C. F. 
Smith, one of tlie ablest officers in the army, was ordered 
to make a vigorous assault with his fresh troops on the 
left of the line, and carry it at whatever cost; and, 
meantime, Lewis Wallace was to hurl his force against 
the enemy in their advanced position on the i*ight, and 
drive them back at the point of the bayonet. 

General Smith’s advance was one of the finest of the 
war. With his cap lifted, and his gray hair streaming 
in the wind, he galloped along the front of his men, 
unheeding the missiles which flew thick around him 
like the pattering of heavy rain. “ Steady ! men ; 
steady ! ” rang out in his clear tones : and steadily they 
advanced, though at. every step their lines were thinned , 
by the deadly minie-balls. They reached the line of 
the rebel troops and drove them back, back, till they 
had gained a position from which they could render 
the strongest portion of the fort untenable. Then rang 
out their hurrahs, and the whole army resounded with 
shouts of triumph. Wallace had done his work well; 


36 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


and at sunset the Union army occupied a position along 
the whole line, which, it was evident, would give them 
the fort in another day. That night the rebel generals 
held a council to deliberate on their actions for the 
morrow. General Buckner, who had held the position 
on the left, from which he had been driven by Genieral 
Smith, declared that he could not hold his post a half- 
hour if the Union troops should attack, as they were 
certain to do, at daybreak ; that his men were too much 
wearied and discouraged to fight, and proposed to treat 
with Grant for an armistice, and to capitulate on the 
best terms that could be obtained. Floyd and Pillow 
objected to this ; they were unwilling to be taken pris- 
oners, — Floyd, in particular, being conscious of a record 
as Secretary of War which would put his life in peril. 
There was some talk of attempting to fight their way 
out, but Buckner declared that three-fourths of the 
troops would be sacrificed in the attempt ; and it was 
finally arranged that Floyd and Pillow should relinquish 
their commands to Buckner, and escape with what troops 
they could take away, and Buckner should surrender 
with the remainder. Accordingly, Floyd and Pillow 
stole away during the night with one brigade of rebel 
troops, and embarking on some small steamboats in the 
river, made their escape to Nashville. 

At dawn of the 16 th, a messenger, bearing a flag of 
truce, approached the Union lines with a message for 
General Grant. It was as follows : — 

Head-quarters, Fort Donelson, ) 
February 16 , 1862 . j 

Sir: — In consideration of all the circumstances governing the pres- 
ent condition of affairs at this station, I propose to the commanding 
officer of the Federal forces the appointment of commissioners to 
agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces and fort under my 


IJNCONDITIONAL SUKRENDER. 


37 


command, and in that view suggest an armistice until 12 o’clock 
to-day. 

I am, sir, respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

S. B. BUCKNER, 
Brig.-Gen.. C. S. A. 

To Brigadier* General Grant, Commanding 

United States forces near Fort Donelson. 

The writer of tliis note knew, what Grant did not, 
that he was powerless to continue the contest another 
liour, and that his two senior generals and a part of his 
troops had already fled ; but Grant was fully assured 
that before sunset of that day he could carry the fort 
by force of arms, though perhaps with considerable loss ; 
and as he had no disposition to hold parley long with a 
traitor, nor to yield other and better conditions to him 
than such as he had the power to enforce within a few 
hours, he sent back by Buckner’s messenger the follow- 
ing brief but decisive reply : — 

Head-quarters, Ar^iy in the Field, ) 
Camp near Donelson, Feb. 16, 1862. j 

To General S. B. Buckner, Confederate Army : — 

Yours of this date proposing an armistice, and appointment of 
commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. No 
terms other than unconditional and immediate surrender can he accepted. 
I propose to move immediately upon your works. 

I am, respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

U. S. GRANT. 

Brig.-Gen., U. S. Army, Commanding. 

The rebel general was greatly chagrined at this reply, 
but knowing his inability to sustain another assault, 
he Avas compelled to submit, Avhich he did most ungra- 
ciously in the following letter : — 


38 


GENERAL TJ. S. GRANT. 


Head-quarters, Dover, Tenn., ) 
Feb. 16, 1862. . ) 

To Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, U. S. A. : — 

Sir: — The distribution of forces under my command, incident to an 
unexpected change of commanders, and the overwhelming force under 
your command, compel me, notwithstanding the brilliant success of 
the Confederate arms yesterday, to accept the ungenerous and un- 
chivalrous terms which you propose. 

I am, sir, your very obedient servant, 

S. B. BUCKNER, 

Brig.-Gen., C. S. A. 

By this surrender the tliiion troops received, and the 
rebels lost, over thirteen thousand prisoners, including 
one . brigadier-general and numerous inferior officers, 
three thousand horses, forty-eight field pieces, seventeen* 
heavy guns, twenty thousand stand of arms and a large 
quantity of commissary stores. The rebel loss, aside 
from this, was 230 killed, and 1,007 wounded, some 
of whom were prisoners. The Union loss was, killed 
446 , wounded 1 , 745 , prisoners 150 . The day after the 
capitulation two regiments of rebel Tennesseeans, num- 
bering 1 , 745 , officers and men, who had been ordered to 
re-enforce Fort Donelson, but were unaware of the sur- 
render, marched into the fort with colors flying, and 
‘were at once made prisoners. 

The capture of these forts having effectually flanked 
the rebel posts of Columbus' and Bowling Green, Ky., 
the rebel commanders made all haste to evacuate them, 
Polk descending the river to Island No. Ten, and John- 
ston making a hurried retreat to Nashville, Tenn. 

The victory thus won caused the promotion of General 
Grant to the major-generalship, his commission dating 
Feb. 16 , 1862 . It may be as well in this place to meet 
the charge which was about this time industriously prop- 


GENERAL GRANt’s ORDER. 39 

aecated, that General Grant was addicted to habits of 
intemperance. The masterly manner in which he had 
conducted the brief campaign just closed was in itself 
an indication tliat he could not have been, as was freely 
charged, an habitual drunkard ; but we have other and 
conclusive evidence that the charge, however it origi- 
nated, was wholly false. His father, and the officers of 
his stalf, who have been with him throughout the war, 
testify that he is, and has been from his youth, one of 
the most abstemious of men, rarely or never tasting in- 
toxicating liquors even as a medicine. 

On the 14th of February, General Halleck, foreseeing 
the result which soon followed, announced the formation 
of the new military district of West Tennessee, bounded 
on the south by Tennessee River and the State line of 
Mississippi, and west by the Mississippi River as far 
north as Cairo. To 'the command of this new district 
he assigned General Grant, with permission to select 
his own head-quarters. 

In taking command of this new district, on the 17th 
of February, General Grant first issued the following 
congratulatory order to the troops which had aided in 
the reduction of F ort Donelson : — 

Head-quarters, District of West Tennessee, ) 
Fort Donelson, Feb. 17, 1862. ) 

General Order No. 2. 

The General commanding takes great pleasure in congratulating 
the troops of this command for the triumph over rebellion gained by 
their valor on the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth iustant. 
For four successive nights, without shelter, during the most in- 
clement weather known in this latitude, they faced an enemy in 
large force, in a position chosen by himself. Though strongly forti- 
fied by nature, all the additional safeguards suggested by science 
were added. Without a murmur this was borne, prepared at all 


40 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


times to receive an attack, and with continuous skirmishing by day, 
resulting ultimately in forcing the enemy to surrender without con- 
ditions. The victory achieved is not only great in the effect it will 
have on breaking down rebellion, but has secured the greatest 
number of prisoners of war ever taken ^ in any battle on this 
continent. 

Fort Donelson will hereafter be marked in capitals on the map of 
our united country, and the men who fought the battle will live in 
the memory of a grateful people. 

U. S. GRANT, 

Brig-Gen. Commanding. 

It was no part of General Grant’s policy to rest satis- 
fied with this victory. The enemy whom he had thus 
driven from one stronghold must be followed promptly, 
and driven successively from each one where they might 
seek shelter. The district of West Tennessee, now 
nominally, must be very soon really in his possession, 
and the rebel army captured or driven far to wad the 
Gulf. Immediate preparation was therefore made for 
an advance. The gun-boats were ordered to ascend the 
Cumberland, and a land force, consisting of a division 
of Grant’s army, under command of General C. F. Smith, 
marched along the west bank of that river to keep them 
company. 

On the 20th of February, Clarksville, the most im- 
portant depot of supplies on the river, was captured 
without a fight, and supplies sufficient to sustain Grant’s 
whole army for twenty days were found there. This 
place was at once garrisoned and held, while the gun- 
boats continued to ascend the river to open the way for 
the Army of the Ohio, under command of General Buell, 
which was marching from Bowling Green to occupy 
Nashville. On the 22d of February, General Grant, 
who remained for a time at Fort Donelson to organize 
the troops constantly arriving, and to send forward 


ORGANIZING THE TROOPS. 


41 


men and supplies, issued an order declaring his district 
under martial law ; and on the 25th, published a 
general order received from General Ilalleck, prohibit- 
ing, under severe penalties, all pillaging, marauding, 
the destruction of private property, and the stealing 
and concealment of slaves, and defining the status of 
non-combatants, and the rules to be observed in obtain- 
ing forced contributions for supplies and subsistence. 


CHAPTER IV. 


Ascent of the river by the gun-boats — Greneral Grant’s head- 
quarters at Fort Henrj^ — Sword presentation — Concentration of 
rebel troops at Corinth — Pittsburg Landing selected as the 
Union base of operations — Troops collected there — Their com- 
manders — Locations of the divisions — The Battle of Shiloh — Sur- 
prise — Death of W. H. L. 'Wallace— Union troops driven back 
toward the river — The rebel commander A. S. Johnston killed 
— Where was Grant? — Slanders of his enemies — General Sherman’s 
statement — The condition of things at evening of the sixth of 
April — Brighter prospects — The enemy defeated on the seventh 
—Losses on both sides — Rebel generals killed and wounded — 
Pursuit of the enemy — General Beauregard’s request — General 
Halleck takes command — Disagreement between him and Grant 
— Evacuation and occupation of Corinth — General Grant in com- 
mand of the new department of West Tennessee — Other depart- 
ments — General Grant at Memphis. 

After the fall of Nashville the gun-boats returned to 
the Ohio River, and ascended the Tennessee River as far 
as Florence, Alabama. Their reconnoissance demon- 
strated the fact that there were no considerable bodies 
of rebel troops along the river, and that a base of opera- 
tions could be established near the southern line of his 
district. In the interval which must necessarily elapse 
before this change could be effected. General Grant 
removed his head-quarters to Fort Henry, and continued 
the organization of the troops now constantly ascending 
the Tennessee River, sending small bodies in every 
direction to scour the country, who occasionally en- 
countered the enemy, and, in one instance (at Paris, 


GATIIERma OF THE REBEL FORCES. 


43 


Tenn.) met and defeated a considerable rebel force, 
causing them to lose in killed, wounded, and prisoners, 
over one hundred men. 

While engaged in this work of organizing troops,, on 
the 11th of March, General Grant was presented with 
an elegant sword by four of the colonels of regiments 
constituting the garrison of Fort Henry. 

The rebel commander-in-chief, Albert Sydney John- 
ston, after he had been compelled to abandon Nashville, 
concentrated his troops at Corinth, Mississippi, the 
point of junction of the Mobile and Ohio and Memphis 
and Charleston railroads, a position which, from its con- 
nections with the ficreat network of railroads traversing: 

o o 

the Southern States, was admirably adapted to the 
collection of troops from all quarters, and, from its 
great natural strength and capacity for fortification, 
could readily be made a most formidable position. To 
this point were brought with the greatest possible 
rapidity, all the rebel troops which could be collected 
from the Southwest, and organized under the super- 
vision of Generals Johnston, Beauregard, Bragg, 
Hardee, and Polk. Corinth was but little more than 
twenty-five miles from Savannah, Tennessee, the point 

first selected by General Grant as his base of operations, 

^ 

and was still nearer to Pittsburg Landing or Shiloh, 
on the west bank of the Tennessee, the point finally 
selected from strategic considerations by Major-General 
C. F. Smith, who was in command in the absence of 
General Grant at Fort Henry. General Buell with the 
Army of the Ohio, which had been in the service longer 
than most of Grant’s troops, was ordered by General 
Halleck to march across the country from Nashville, 
and join Grant at Pittsburg Landing, and, the roads 
being heavy, made but slow progress. 


44 


GENERAL TJ. S. GRANT. 


Meantime, the rebel commander, who had assembled 
at Corinth an army of full forty-five thousand men, 
under his ablest generals, with thirty thousand more 
under Yan Dorn and Price, coming from Arkansas, 
well disciplined, and provided with all that was ne- 
cessary to its efficiency, had conceived the plan of 
hurling his force upon Grant before Buell could come 
up, and while Lewis Wallace’s division was at Crump’s 
Landing, some distance from the field of battle, and 
thus conquering the Union army in detail. The plan 
was well devised, and came v^ery near being successful. 
Johnston at first fixed upon April 5 th as the time for 
making the attack, and had he adhered to this deter- 
mination he would very possibly have succeeded ; but, 
desirous of obtaining Van Dorn’s and Price’s re-enforce- 
ments before moving, he delayed one day, in the liope 
that they would come up, and that day’s delay lost him 
the battle. The roads in that region were so heavy that 
though Pittsburg Landing was but twenty miles away, 
it took the rebel army two days to reach it. General 
Grant’s suspicions had been aroused by the movements 
of some of the rebel reconnoitering parties on the night 
of the second of April, and he returned to the camp that 
night from Savannah, ten miles away, where his head- 
qtTarters were, and reconnoitered in person. 

As no sign of battle appeared, he returned to Savan- 
nah, leaving orders to fire a signal-gun if there were any 
appearances of an approaching battle. The Union army 
was surrounded by spies ; rebel citizens who, while pro- 
fessing to be non-combatants, discovered and carried to 
the rebel head-quarters every position and movement 
of the Union forces. 

The forces under General Grant’s command, consti- 
tuting the army of West Tennessee, were organized in 


THE BArrLE OF SHILOH. 


45 


five divisions, commanded as follows: First division, 
Major-General John A. McClernand; second division, 
Brigadier-General W. H. L. Wallace; third division, 
Major-General Lewis Wallace; fourth division, Briga- 
dier-General S. A. Hurlbut ; fifth division, Brigadier- 
General W. T. Sherman. Of these generals, McCler- 
nand, W. H. L. Wallace, Hurlbut, and Sherman were 
at Pittsburg Landing, and Lewis Wallace at Crump’s 
Landing, six miles distant. General Buell’s force, the 
• Army of the Ohio, was twenty miles distant. 

The troops were arranged in the following order: 
Prentiss’s command, a subdivision of McClernand’s, oc- 
cupied the extreme Union left, resting on Lick Creek, a 
distance of nearly three miles from the Tennessee River ; 
next came McClernand; then W. H. L. Wallace, forming 
the right, with Sherman partly in reserve as a support 
on the right wing, extending along Snake Creek. Gen- 
eral Hurlbut’s division acted as the supports of Prentiss 
on the left wing, and were also partly in reserve. The 
Union force that day in the battle did not exceed thirty- 
eight thousand. The rebel commander had thrown a 
detachment between Pittsburg and Crump’s Landings, 
and thus obstructed Lew. Wallace’s division, and com- 
pelled them to make so extended a detour that they were 
unable to take any part in the first day’s battle. 

The battle commenced at daybreak of the 5th of 
April (Sunday), by a sudden and desperate attack on 
the extreme left, — Prentiss’s division, — which was taken 
somewhat by surprise, but fought bravely. The rebel 
force Avas, however, massed so heavily against them, that 
they at last gave way, and the greater part of them were 
captured. Hurrying these to the rear, the rebels next 
hurled their forces upon W. H. L. Wallace and Sher- 
man. Wallace was mortally wounded, and his troops 


46 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


driven back some distance, but Sherman, making a 
stubborn resistance, held his position and repulsed the 
enemy, who, however, rallied and returned to the attack, 
flinging, meantime, a large force of fresh troops upon 
McClernand’s division, and that general, though doing 
his utmost to keep his troops in line, was crowded back. 
The rebels next having tried in vain to break Sherman’s 
lines, about two p. m. slackened their fire on him, and 
threw their principal force on General Ilurlbut’s divi- 
sion, gradually but surely pressing them back, till the . 
greater part of the line was two and a half miles in rear 
of their first position, though still half a mile from the ' 
river. Sherman, meanwhile, had taken a new line in a 
strong position, and repulsed all attacks, while Web- 
ster, General Grant’s chief of artillery, gathering the 
batteries which had been scattered, and some of them 
deserted, opened a steady and destructive fire upon the 
enemy, who were making desperate efforts to turn 
the Union left, rout General Hurlbut, and gain posses- 
sion of the landing. The fire of the artillery, aided by 
that of the gun-boats Tyler and Lexington^ which, 
coming within range, opened heavily upon the rebel 
ranks, caused them to give way a little, and General 
T. J. Wood’s division, the advance of Buell’s corps, 
coming up just at this time, aided in driving them back. 
At nightfall the rebels rested on their arms in what had 
been the Union camp; but the Union forces, though 
sadly shattered, looked forward with confidence to the 
morrow, when they felt certain they would be able to 
drive back and defeat the enemy. The rebel com- 
mander-in-chief, General Albert S. Johnston, had been 
mortally wounded early in the action, and died before 
evening, and General Beauregard was now in com- 
mand. 


GENERAL SIIERMAn’s LETIER. 


47 


Where, in this day of desperate lighting, was General 
Grant? That he was in the battle during the day was 
admitted, and was, indeed, evident from his own re- 
port, though, with characteristic modesty, he does not 
state when he reached the field. But his enemies, and 
among them some who should have had more manhood 
than to have brought false accusations against him, 
charged that he was surprised, and was, indeed, de- 
feated, until General Buell’s coming and taking com- 
mand reversed the tables, and from the misfortunes 
of the first day’s battle ^evoked the ‘ triumph of the 
second. It was also charged that he was unjustifiably 
absent on the morning of the first day’s battle ; that his 
place was with his troops ; that he did not arrive till 
noon, and that he did nothing to prevent the demorali- 
zation which was taking place among his raw troops. To 
these charges, though knowing their falsity, General 
Grant has never deigned a reply, but near the close of 
the war we had a refutation of them from the man of 
all others best qualified to testify to the truth in the case, 
Lieutenant-General Sherman. He states, in a letter to 
the editor of the “ United States Service Magazine,” that 
the battle-field was chosen by the late lamented Major- 
General Charles F. Smith, and that it was well chosen ; 
that on any other the Union army Avould have been over- 
whelmed. He further says that General Grant was early 
on the field; that he visited his division in person about 
ten A. M., when the battle was raging fiercest ; approved 
of his stubborn resistance to the enemy, and, in answer 
to his inquiry concerning cartridges, told him that he 
had anticipated their wants, and given orders accord- 
ingly; and, remarking that his presence was more 
needed over at the left, rode off to encourage the 


48 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


hardly pressed ranks of McClernand and Hurlbut's 
divisions. 

• “ About five p. M.,” continues General Sherman, ‘‘ be- 
fore the sun set, General Grant came again to me, and, 
after hearing my report of matters, explained to me the 
situation of affairs on the left, which were not as favor- 
able ; still the enemy had failed to reach the landing of 
the boats. We agreed that the enemy had expended 
fiirore of his attack, and we estimated our loss and 
approximated our then strength, including Lew. Wal- 
lace’s fresh division, expected each minute. He then 
ordered me to get all things ready, and at daylight the 
next day to assume the offensive. That was before 
General Buell had arrived, but he was known to be near 
at hand. General Buell’s troops took no essential part 
in the first day’s fight, and Grant’s army, though col- 
lected together hastily, green as militia, some regiments 
arriving without cartridges even, and nearly all hearing 
the dread sound of battle for the first time, had success- 
fully withstood and repelled the first day’s terrific onset 
of a superior enemy, well commanded and well handled. 
I know I had orders from General Grant to assume the 
offensive before I knew General Buell was on the west 
side of the Tennessee. . . I understood Grant’s forces 
were to advance on the right of the Corinth road, and 
Buell’s on the left (this was on the 7th), ahd accordingly 
at daylight I advanced my division by the fiank, the re- 
sistance being trivial, up to the very spot where the day 
before the battle had been most severe, and then waited 
till near noon for Buell’s troops to get up abreast, when 
the entire line advanced and recovered all the ground 
we had ever held. I know that with the exception of 
one or two severe struggles, the fighting of April 7th 
was easy as compared with that of April 6th. I never 


BATTLE OF SHILOH CONTINUED. 


49 


was disposed, nor am I now, to question any thing done 
by General Buell and his army, and know that, ap- 
proaching our field of battle from the rear, he en- 
countered that sickening crowd of laggards and fugi- 
tives that excited his contempt and that of his army, 
who never gave full* credit to those in the front line who 
did fight hard, and who had, at four p. m., checked the 
enemy, and were preparing the next day to assume the 
offensive.” 

Thus far General Sherman. Let us now resume the 
history of the battle. General Lew. Wallace’s division 
had reached the battle-field on the evening of the sixth, 
too late to participate in the fighting of tliat day, but 
fresh and ready for the severe work of the morrow. 
General Nelson’s division of Buell’s army crossed the 
river during the night, and were also ready to com- 
mence fighting at dawn ; but the remainder of Buell’s 
army, owing to a deficiency of transportation and the 
want of pontoons, did not cross until the morning of the 
seventh. General Grant assigned Wallace’s division to 
the right, and Nelson’s to the left of his line, and the 
divisions which formed the center were those which had 
- so bravely withstood the onset of the previous day. 
The attack on the seventh was made by the Union 
troops, General Nelson, on the left, opening with a de- 
structive and galling fire, and advancing rapidly as the 
rebels fell back. In a short time the fighting was gen- 
eral along the whole line, and though the rebels main 
tained their position with great tenacity at some points, 
and were urged forward by their leaders, they at length 
began to break, and, when the remainder of Buell’s 
troops came up toward noon, they gave evidence of 
thorough defeat, and, after an ineffective struggle, fled, 
abandoning their artillery and small-arms, about five 
3 


50 


GENERAL IT. S. GRANT. 


o’clock, p. M. The battle had been the most sanguinary 
of the war up to that time. Of the Union troops, one 
thousand six hundred and fourteen were slain, seven 
thousand seven hundred and twenty-one were wounded, 
and three thousand nine hundred and sixty-three were 
missing, the greater part of them prisoners, making a 
total of thirteen thousand two hundred and ninety- 
eight hors de combat. The rebel losses, as stated by 
Pollard, were, killed, one thousand seven hundred and 
twenty-eight ; wounded, eight thousand and twelve ; 
missing, nine hundred and fifty-nine ; making an aggre- 
gate of ten thousand six hundred and ninety-nine. 

There is abundant evidence that the amount of miss- 
ing, which includes the prisoners not wounded, is greatly 
understated, and from this statement it appears that the 
number of their killed and wounded was considerably 
in excess of that of the Union troops. The loss of 
cannon by the Union troops on the sixth was nearly 
or quite balanced by the loss of the rebels on the 
seventh. General Grant was slightly wounded in the 
ankle in this battle. The rebel loss of officers in hio'h 

O 

command had been very severe. Besides their com- 
mander-in-chief, General A. S. Johnston, General Glad- 
den of South Carolina, General G. M. Johnston, 
governor of Kentucky, and Colonels Adams, Kitt Wil- 
liams, and Blythe were killed ; and Generals Breckin- 
ridge, Hardee, Cheatham, Johnson, and Bowen, were 
wounded. General Grant’s troops were too completely 
exhausted to make pursuit that night, and General Buell 
did not order any of his force, which was less wearied, 
to that duty. On the morning of the eighth. General 
Grant ordered Sherman to follow the retreating rebel 
force. He did so, and proceeding along the Corinth 
road, came upon the rebel cavalry, whom he drove from 


BEORaANIZATION OF THE AKMY. 51 

the field after a short skirmish, and, pressing forward, 
entered and destroyed the rebel camp and considerable 
quantities of ammunition. Proceeding onward, he 
found abundant evidences of a hasty and disorderly re- 
treat, in the abandoned wagons, ambulances, and limber- 
boxes which strewed the road. 

On the evening of the eighth. General Beauregard 
sent by flag of truce a note to General Grant, asking 
permission to send a mounted party to the battle-field 
to bury the dead, and that gentlemen wishing to remove 
the remains of their sons and friends might accompany 
the party. The next morning General Grant replied 
that, owing to the warmth of the weather, he had made 
heavy details of forces to bury the dead of both parties, 
and that it had been accomplished. He therefore de- 
clined to permit the approach of any party of the enemy 
to the battle-field. 

General Halleck, the commander of the Mississippi 
department, on hearing of the battle of Pittsburg Land- 
ing, hastened at once to the field to take command in 
person, and on the 13th of April issued a general order 
expressive of his thanks to General Grant and General 
Buell, and the officers and men under their charge, for 
the results of the great battle, lie also collected at the 
camp at Pittsburg Landing all the troops which could 
be spared from the other posts of the department, and 
reorganized the army in sixteen divisions, eight of 
which formed the Army of the Tennessee, under General 
Grant, four the Army of the Ohio, under General Buell, 
and four the Army of the Mississippi, under General 
John Pope. On the 30th of April this grand army 
moved forward to drive the rebels from their strongly 
fortified position at Corinth. As they approached the 
stronghold several sharp actions occurred between them 


52 


GENERAL TJ. S. GRANT. 


and the rebels, which however resulted, in each instance, 
in the repulse of the latter. On the lYth of May, the 
Union army commenced a series of regular approaches 
for the reduction of the city. On the 19th, General 
Grant urged General Halleck to allow him with his 
army to assault the enemy’s works, as he was satisfied 
that the rebel army could be captured by a vigorous 
and concerted' attack. General Halleck refused, prefer- 
ring the method of slow approaches. General Grants till 
urged it with great importunity, and a quarrel threat- 
ened between the two generals, the only one in Grant’s 
military career. Halleck, however, adhered to his 
plan, and, in spite of frequent sallies on the part of the 
enemy, the parallels were drawn closer and closer, and 
on the night of the 28th of May, Generals Beauregard 
and Bragg, with their troops, evacuated Corinth, blow- 
ing up their, caissons and magazines, and moving south- 
ward along the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, sought a safer 
position. They were pursued by General Pope, but 
without any considerable result, though their .flight 
was somewhat accelerated, and by the end of June 
there was no rebel force within fifty miles of Corinth. 
Meantime, IN^ew Orleans and the forts below it had been 
surrendered to the Union forces under Farragut and 
Butler, and Memphis had been captured by the Missis- 
sippi flotilla, under Commodore Davis. On the 17th 
of July, General Halleck was summoned to Washington 
to take the position of general-in-chief of the armies of 
the United States, and the new department of West 
Tennessee created, embracing Northern Mississippi, 
West Tennessee, Western Kentucky, and Southern 
Illinois, and General Grant placed in command of it. 
General Curtis had succeeded General Pope in command 
of the Army of the Mississippi, now named the depart- 


CONTRABAND TRAFFIC SUPPRESSED. 


53 


ment of Arkansas, and General Buell still commanded 
the Army of the Ohio, which had for its department 
the region inclosed by the Tennessee River. General 
Grant made his head-quarters for a time at Memphis, 
which, with its swarms of crafty secessionists, specu- 
lators, gamblers, and Jewish traders, desperate for 
gain, bid fair to be of more value to the rebels, when in 
possession of the Unionists, than when held by the 
rebels themselves, inasmuch as every thing in the Avay 
of supplies, which the enemy needed, was smuggled 
through the lines to them on one pretense or another. 
This illicit traffic General Grant broke up with a strong 
hand, and crushed the disloyal operators so effectuallr, 
that the unscrupulous traitors and spies were almost 
beside themselves with rage. 




rc\\ *\ ^ ^ rr c- 

^ ^ ■ i I ' J .° ' r 


( ^ -i ‘ I? ^ 

/: V/ / 


.,-1 CHAPTER V, 

The race between Buell and Bragg — The battle of Perryville — the 
design of the. rebels — The battle of luka — The two days’ battle 
of Corinth — Changes in the Army of the Ohio — General Grant’s 
four districts — Memphis — General Grant expels the Jewish specu- 
lators — His integrity — His determination to reduce Vicksburg 
— Its strength — Previous attempts to capture it — The movement 
down the Mississippi Central in concert with Sherman’s attack 
on Chickasaw Bluffs — How frustrated — Young’s Point — Other 
plans — Canals — River and bayou passes — Failures — Running 
past the batteries — March down the. west side — Grand Gulf — 
Bruinsburg — Port Gibson — Raymond — Jackson — Sherman’s feint 
— Grierson’s raid — Champion Hills — The Big Black — Assaults on 
the rear of Vicksburg — Siege — Surrender — The terms — “ You 
can continue the defense ” — What was surrendered — Sherman 
sent to defeat J ohnston. 

While General Grant was endeavoring to reduce 
the chaotic elements in his department to order, and 
repressing with a strong hand the manifestations of 
treason and greed, the rebel General Bragg was moving 
with all speed to regain the territory lost to rebeldom 
in Tennessee and Kentucky. General Buell followed, 
but did not overtake him ; and when balked in his 
greater j)urpose, but still heavily laden with plunder, he 
doubled on his track and again faced southward, Buell 
again pursued, but not with that energy and resolution 
which would insure success ; and when he finally 
brought him to bay at Perryville, Kentucky, only a part 
of the Union forces were brought into action, and but 
for the courage, resolution, and energy of a young 
commander, General Philip H. Sheridan, they would 



CORINTH THREATENED. 


have been defeated. As it was, tlie battle was inde- 
cisive, and Bragg got safely away witli his rich booty, 
and occupied a strong position in Tennessee. 

This expedition of General Bragg^wUiS only one por- 
tion of a combined movement of the rel^s, having for 
its object the expulsion of the Union armies from 
Northern Mississip|)i, West Tennessee, and AVest Ken- 
tucky, and the regaining of the territory they had lost 
witliin the previous seven or eight months. That por- 
tion of the programme having for its object the expul- 
sion of Grant from his department, was intrusted to 
Generals Van Dorn, Price, and Lovell. The first move- 
ment made by the rebels to this end was the capture 
of luka, a Union post about twenty miles from Corinth, 
and the subsequent battle of luka, in which Price 
attacked General Rosecrans, then one of Grant’s 
lieutenants. Tlie battle was a very severe one, but 
Price was severely beaten and compelled to evacuate 
the town. lie retreated eastward instead of northward, 
as Grant had expected, and managed to join Van Dorn, 
and Lovell in Tippah County, Mississippi, when the 
three, with a formidable force, determined to repossess 
themselves of Corinth, and thus compel Grant to loosen 
his hold on West Tennessee. General Grant compre- 
hended their plans, and was ready to thwart them. It 
was at first somewhat uncertain whether they would 
attempt to seize Corinth, wliere Rosecrans was now 
stationed, or Bolivar, which Avas Iield by General Ord, 
another of Grant’s lieutenants, Avith a considerable 
force, or Jackson, Avhere General Grant had his OAvn 
head-quarters ; their position near Pocahontas, on the 
Memphis and Charleston railroad, threatening all these 
about equally. This Avill be evident, from a glance at 
the map, Jackson being the apex of an equilateral tri- 


56 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT 



OPERATIONS AT lUKA. 


a. Powell’s Battery. 

b. 63d Ohio. 

c. 43d Ohio. 

d. 27th Ohio. 

e. 39th Ohio. 

/, 8th Wisconsin. 


g. 26th Illinois. 
A. 47th Illinois. 
i. 10th Iowa. 
k. 48th Indiana. 
L 16th Iowa. 
m. 6th Iowa. 


72. 25th Missouri. ' 

o. 17th Iowa. 

p. 4th Minnesota. 

q. 11th Ohio Battery. 

r. Spoor's Battery. 

8. 11th Missouri. 


BATTLE OF CORINTir. 


67 


angle formed by the junction of the Mobile and Ohio 
and Mississippi and Jackson railroads at Jackson, and 
their several crossings of the Memphis and Charleston 
•Railroad at Laorraruje and Corinth. Corinth formed 
-another angle of the triangle, and Pocahontas was 
nearly midway between that and Lagrange, and Bolivar 
about half-way between Lagrange and Jackson. But 
Grant had so arramred his forces and timed his move- 
ments, that whichever point might be attacked, a sup- 
porting force should be ready to strike the enemy in 
the rear, or to cut off his escape. General Ilurlbut had 
been stationed between Pocahontas and Lagrange, and 
when it became evident that Corinth was the point 
aimed at by the enemy, he put himself in position to 
intercept his retreat along the Ilatchie River, and Gen- 
eral Ord was directed to move to Iiis support. AYe 
need not describe in detail the battle of Corinth ; suffice 
it to say that .General Rosecrans defeated the combined 
rebel force after a severe battle on the 3d and 4th of 
October, and that the flying rebels were pursued and 
terribly punished by Ilurlbut and Ord, and by General 
‘McPherson, whom he had detached from his immediate 
command for tlie purpose. A more thorough defeat 
and rout had not, up to that time, occurred during the 
war, nor a more decided- and zealous pursuit. On the 
25th of October, another change was made in the 
boundaries of the department of Tennessee. General 
Rosecrans was assigned to the command of the old de- 
partment of the Ohio — -now somewhat changed in 
boundary, and re-named the department of the Cumber- 
land — in place of General .Buell, relieved ; and the 

0 

department of Tennessee 'WMi extended down the !Mis- 
sissippi to Vicksburg. , This' new department General 

Grant divided into four districts, and^ assigned com- 
3* 


58 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


raanders to each, viz. : 1st. The district of Memphis, 
General W. T. Sherman, commander ; 2d. The district 
of Jackson, General S. A. Hurlbut, commander; 3d. 
The district of Corinth, Brigadier-General C. S. Hamil- 
ton, commander ; 4th. The district of Columbus, Briga- 
dier-General T. A. Davies, commander. 

There was* still much trouble in regard to trade at 
Memphis, and other points in his department. While 
some of those engaged in trade were men of high and 
honorable character, too many were unscrupulous spec- 
ulators, who were ready, for the sake of gain, to smug- 
gle through the lines weapons, ammunition, food, medi- 
cines, and other articles contraband of war, to the 
« • 

rebels. General Grant tried the most stringent rules 
and the most critical examination, but the evil still con- 
tinued, and he was compelled to expel the Jews, who 
had been the principal offenders, from the department. 
Amid the almost universal corruption which prevailed 
at this period — very many officers in the army secretly 
engaging^ in cotton speculations, and neglecting their 
duty to acquire wealth in this way — General Grant’s 
reputation for strict integrity, and avoidance of- even 
the appearance of evil, was never questioned. He was 
remarkably sensitive to any thing which might seem to 
implicate his integrity in these matters. A friend, him- 
self a man of unimpeachable honor, proposed to him, 
at this time, that he should designate Union men of 
high character to conduct the necessary trade. “No !” 
w^as his prompt reply, “ I will do no such thing ; for, if 
I did,* it would be stated within a week, on the highest 
authority, that I was a partner with every man I ap- 
pointed ; and if any of tlMn were guilty of misconduct, 

the blame and guilt would fall on my shoulders.” 

• « 

Vicksburg was now the goal of Grant’s hopes; to 


STRENGTH OF VICKSBUKG. 


59 


capture that stronghold, the great object of his ambi- 
tion. It was, indeed, a prize worth contending for. It 
was the key to the navigation of the Mississippi ; strong 
by nature, in its terraced blutfs rising high over tlie Mis- 
sissippi, it had been made tenfold stronger by the en- 
gineer’s art, and was believed by the rebels to be utter- 
ly impregnable. From the very commencement of the 
war no pains had been spared in fortifying it, and when 
the loss of the forts below New Orleans and of Island 
No. Ten, and Memphis, had convinced the rebels that 
this fortress must be their main dependence in closing 
the river navigation, they redoubled their etforts to make 
it a perfect Gibraltar. Not simj^ly the city itself was 
surrounded with earth-works — fort, bastion, redan, and 
rifle-pits — but Haines’s, Chickasaw, and Walnut blufts, 
to the northwest, north, and northeast of the city, and 
Warrenton, commanding the lower approaches to it, 
were also strongly fortified, and iron-clad vessels of for- 
midable character were built on the Yazoo River above, 
out of harm’s way, to descend at the proper time and 
carry destruction among the gun-boats of the Union 
squadron. It had been assailed before its defenses were 
quite perfected, in the summer of 1862 , by Admiral Far- 
ragut’s squadron, but a long bombardment had proved 
ineflectual, so lofty were its blufis, and so formidable at 
that time its batteries. An attempt during the same 
summer, by General Williams (who was killed in Au- 
gust of that year at Baton Rouge), to turn the current 
of the Mississippi through a canal across the peninsula 
formed by the bend of the Mississippi in front of Vicks- 
burg, had proved a failure. General Grant was well 
aware how formidable was the enterprise he was about 
to undertake, and he made all possible preparation for 
it. The troops of the levy of July and August, 1862 , 


60 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


were rapidly joining the army, and rendering its num- 
bers large far beyond any former precedent. The sup- 
plies of food, ammunition, arms, clothing, &c., were also 
collected in vast quantities at suitable depots, for dis- 
tribution to the forces of each district. Early in De- 
cember, General Grant began to move his troops down 
'the Mississippi Central Railroad, for the purpose of a 
flank movement upon Vicksburg, to be executed in con- 
cert with an attack upon the north and northwest front 
of the city, by a force under General Sherman descend- 
ing the river from Memphis. About the 15th of De- 
cember, General Grant’s head-quarters were at Oxford, 
Mississippi, while his principal depot of supplies was at 
Holly Springs, thirty miles above, guarded by a suffi- 
cient garrison under a Colonel Murphy. A small rebel 
force, by a detour to the east, managed to make a dash 
upon Holly Springs on the 20th of December, but might 
easily have been driven off by the garrison, whose com- 
mander had been apprised' of the attack by General 
Grant as soon as possible, and ordered to hold his 
ground and re-enforcements should be sent to* him. 
Colonel Murphy, however, was either a coward or trai- 
tor, and made but slight resistance, suffering the vast 
accumulation of supplies to fall* into the hands of the 
rebels, who plundered and destroyed them, and then 
made all haste to escape. This mishap deranged* Gen- 
eral Grant’s plans, compelling him to fall back to Holly 
Springs and order forward other supplies, and thus pre- 
venting him from making a simultaneous attack with 
General Sherman upon Vicksburg. * Nor was he able to 
apprise General Sherman of the cause of his failure. 
Sherman went forward, made the attack upon Vicks- 
burg, but, after a three days’ struggle, was compelled 
to withdraw his troops, defeated but not dispirited at 


PROJECTS FOR TAKING VICKSBURG. 


61 


• their want of success. Having renewed his stock of sup- 
plies, and the time for success in a movement south- 
ward, by way of the Mississippi Central Railroad, having 
passed, General Grant next descended the Mississippi to 
Young’s Point, Louisiana, a short distance above Vicks- 
bur<x, where' he devoted his whole attention to solvincc 

0 7 O 

« 

the problem of capturing the stronghold which frowned 
so loftily upon the Mississippi. The problem proved a 
knotty one. An assault on the water-front w^as impos- 
sible, and the heavy and repeated bombardments of the 
squadron, though seemingly sufficient to reduce any 
known fortress, made little impression upon this. The 
approaches by way of Chickasaw .bluffs, strong enough 
in December to repulse Sherman’s army, had* been for- 
tified since that' time, until they left no hope of success 
in that direction. No siege was possible, because, the 
rear being open, supplies and men could be thrown in 
till the besieged could ’become the offensive party. 
There remained three alternatives, all attended with 
difficulty, and none giving*very certain promise of suc- 
cessi These were the renewal of the. canal project un- 
der more favorable auspices, with a view to rendering 
the position of Vicksburg worthless in a military point 
of view, arid opening a new route for the navigation of 
the Mississippi through the canal ; the approach to the 
city from the north* and northeast by way of the Yazoo 
River, which at several points above communicated more 
or less directly with the’ Mississippi ; and the passing of 

a land and naval force’ below Vicksburg, and attacking 

• 

the fortress from the south. 

’ ’ That dogged pertinacity which,* when a school-boy, 
led Grant never to give up till he had mastered a diffi- 
"cult problem, an heir-loom, perhaps, of his revolutionary 
ancestry, how caused him to adhere to his purpose, hope- 


62 


GENERAL F. S. GRANT. 


less as it seemed to the rebels, and indeed to our own 
Government, which at first seemed hardly willing to 
brook the delay. The canal was first tried, but owing 
to a sudden flood in the Mississippi, which broke the 
dam and overflowed the adjacent country, it was aban- 
doned. Attempts were next made to enter the Yazoo 
by the old Yazoo Pass, and subsequently by a more cir- 
cuitous route, through Steel’s Bayou, Black Bayou, Duck 
Creek, Deer Creek, Rolling Fork, and Sunflower River; 
but neither of these, though accomplishing much as 
raids into the enemy’s country, proved successful in 
opening the way for an attack upon the city of Vicks- 
burg. There remained, then, the last alternative of 
bringing his troops, with their supplies, to some point 
below Vicksburg, and thence attacking the fortress from 
below. How to do this was a serious question. From 
Vicksburg to Port Hudson, a distance of two hundred 
and thirty-two miles, every commanding blufi* was forti- 
fied, and the batteries and earth-works at Port Hudson, 
^Natchez, Grand Gulf, &c., were very formidable. Ad- 
miral Farragut had, indeed, run past the Port Hudson 
batteries, but had lost a ship-of-war in doing so ; and 
there was no possibility of bringing troops for the pur- 
pose of attacking Vicksburg from iS^ew Orleans. To 
run the batteries in front of Vicksburg, with transports 
loaded with troops, was impossible ; and to lead them 
through the swamps on the west side of the Mississippi, 
with their trains, at this time of the year (February and 
March), equally so. By opening an old channel of the 
Mississippi, into Lake Providence, and thence passing 
down the Tensas, and through a bayou discharging into 
the Mississippi some distance below Grand Gulf, it 
might be possible to send down some troops and sup- 
plies ; but the work would necessarily be slow, as the 


MARCH DOWN THE WEST BANK. 


63 


route was tortuous, and only practicable for small ves- 
sels of light draft. Little as it promised, this route was 
tried, and a moderate amount of supplies forwarded. 
But it was necessary that a part of the gun-boat squad- 
ron should be below Vicksburg, as well as transports to 
bring the troops and stores across the river, and to en- 
gage the batteries at Grand Gulf. Accordingly, after 
conference with Admirals Farragut and Porter, it was 
determined to send a part of the gun-boats, and sixteen 
or eighteen transports, laden with forage and supplies, 
past the batteries, in two divisions, on dilferent nights. 
This was accomplished with only the loss of two 
transports, though under a most terrific fire, continued 
for hours, and was one of the most heroic acts of the 
war. 

Meantime the roads having improved, and the worst 
portions of them being corduroyed. General Grant com- 
menced marching his troops by land through the coun- 
try west of the Mississippi, the Thirteenth Army Corps, 
General McClernand’s, taking the' lead, and the Seven- 
teenth, General McPherson’s, following ; while the Fif- 
teenth, General Sherman’s, and a part of the Sixteenth, 

were left to take care of the communications and sup- 

* 

plies, and to deceive the rebels as to the intentions of 
the commanding general. This march, which it was 
expected would terminate .at New Carthage, thirty-five 
miles below Milliken’s Bend, the point of departure, 
Avas, from the condition of the roads, the breaking of 
the leA^ee, &c., extended to Hard Times, Louisiana, a 
distance of seventy miles, and OA^er roads Avhich almost 
any other general Avould liaA^e pronounced impassable. 
The movement commenced March 29th, and occupied 
thirty days. 

* 

At first the attempt was made to land the troops 


64 


GENERA.L U. S. GRANT. 


near Grand Gulf, and the squadron engaged the batte- 
ries there with the intention of carrying the position, 
and thus aifording a base of operations. But the 
resistance was too stubborn to be overcome by the gun- 
boats, and, after a fight of five hours and a half, the 
admiral (Porter) ordered their withdrawal. During 
the night following, the squadron and transports ran 
past the batteries, and the next ‘morning commenced 
ferrying over the troops and landing them at Bruins- 
burg, ten miles below. Marching rapidly from ' this 
point northeastward toward Port Gibson, the Thir- 
teenth and Seventeenth Corps encountered a considera- 
ble force of the enemy, whom they defeated after a 
sharp battle, and moved on to and across Bayou Pierre. 
The next day it was ascertained that Grand Gulf, 
which had been flanked by this movement, had been 
evacuated, and General Grant repaired thither with a 
small escort, and made arrangements to make it his 
base .of supplies for a time. These arrangements occu- 
pied nearly a week. By his orders, as nearly as possi- 
ble simultaneously with the landing of the two corps 
at Bruinsburg, General Sherman had made a strong 
demonstration toward Haines’s Bluff and the Yazoo, 
and had thus attracted the attention of the rebels 
toward that quarter, where they believed the entire 
Union army were concentrated, . and prevented them 
from opposing their landing below. . 

This being accomplished, Sherman’s troops made all • 
speed in marching to the rendezvous on the river, where 
the transports were in waiting to take them over to 
'Grand Gulf. * ; >r. . r 

Before leaving Young’s Point, General i Grant had 
also ordered an expedition by a competent cavalry force, 
under the command of Colonel, now General, Benjamin 


MARCH ON VICKSBURG. 


65 


IT. Grierson, to start from Lagrange, at the junction of 
the Mississippi Central and Memphis and Charleston 
railroads, to follow the lines of the Mobile and Ohio and 
Mississippi Central railroads, and destroy as much of 
these, and the Meridian and Jackson Railroad, as possi- 
ble, — capturing and destroying also all stores, ammuni- 
tion, locomotives, and railroad cars possible, in their 
route. This expedition was thoroughly successful, and 
reached Baton Rouge on the 1st of May, at the time 
Grant was lighting the battle of Port Gibson. Other 
raids were ordered about the same time from Middle 
Tennessee, which aided in breaking up the railroad 
communications and frustrating the plans of the rebels. 

Our space does not allow us to go into details of the 
subsequent masterly movements by 'which, while appa- 
rently threatening an immediate attack on Vicksburg 
from the south, the garrison there, under the command 
of General Pemberton, were prevented from forming a 
junction with General J. E. Johnston’s troops, then in 
the vicinity of Jackson, nor of the battle of Raymond, 
the capture of Jackson, and the destruction of the 
property and manufixctories of the rebel government 
there ; the rapid march westward, the severe battles of 
Champion’s Hill and of Black River Bridge, and the 
eminently skillful management of the corps of Generals 
Sherman and McPherson. Suffice it to say that General 
Grant interposed his army between the forces of John- 
ston and Pemberton, drove the former, broken and 
routed, northward, and compelled the latter to put him- 
self and his defeated army as soon as possible within 
the defenses of Vicksburg ; and on the 18th the Union 
army sat down before Vicksburg, iiaving completely 
invested it on the land side, and opened communication 
with their squadron and transports by way of Walnut 


66 


GENERAL U. S. GRANP. 


Bluffs, above the river. On r the 19th of May, and 
again on the 22d, ‘General Grant ordered assaults upon 
the beleaguered city, neither of which were successful, 
except in gaining some ground and expediting the sub- 
sequent regular: approaches. The army now became 
satisfied that the stronghold could only be captured by 
a systematic siege, and General Grant accordingly took 
all precautions to make that siege effective, and to pre- 
vent the rebel General Johnston from approaching with 
sufficient force to raise the siege. Day by day the 
parallels were brought nearer and nearer, and finally 
came so near that the rebels could not use their cannon, 
while the Union artillery from the adjacent hills, and 
from the squadron, constantly showered their iron hail 
upon the devoted city. The inhabitants and the rebel 
army dug caves in the bluffs, and endeavored to shelter 
themselves from the fiery storm, but these were often 
penetrated by the shells from the batteries, or blown up 
in the explosion of the forts. At length, on the third 
of July, General Grant was prepared to order an assault, 
wliich could not have failed of success, when overtures 
were made for a surrender, and the city was delivered 
into the hands of the Union army on the 4th of July, 
1863. • ^ < 

" It is stated that at the interview between General 
Grant and General Pemberton, after shaking handsj and 
a short silence. General Pemberton said : — ' 

“ General Grant, I meet you in order to arrange terms 
for the capitulation of the city of Vicksburg and its 
garrison. What terms do you demand ? 

' Uyiconditional surrender replied General Grant. 

‘‘ Unconditional surrender !” said Pemberton. “Never, 
so long as I have a man left me ! I will fight rather.” 

“ Then^ sir^ you can continue the defense^'^ replied 


SURRENDER OF VICKSBURG. 


67 


Grant. “ My army has never been in a better condition 
for the prosecution of the siege?'' 

During this conversation, General Pemberton was 
greatly agitated, trembling with emotion from head to 
foot, while Grant was as calm and imperturbable as a 
]\Iay morning. After a somewhat protracted interview, 
during wdiich General Grant, in consideration of the 
courage and tenacity of the garrison, explained tlie 
terms he was disposed to allow to them on their uncon- 
ditional surrender, the two generals separated, an armis- 
tice having been declared till morning, when the (|ues- 
tion of surrender was to be finally determined. The 
same evening General Grant transmitted to General 
Pemberton, in writing, the propositions he had made 
during the afternoon for the disposal of the garrison, 
should they surrender. These terms were very liberal, 
far more so than those usually accorded to a conquered 
garrison. 

The rebel loss in this campaign had been very great, 
larger than has often been experienced in the campaigns 
of modern times, and utterly without precedent in the 
previous history of this continent. The number of 
prisoners captured by the Union troops, from the land- 
iua at Druinsbursc, to, and includino:, the surrender of 

O O' 7 O' 

Vicksburo^, was 34,62-0, includiim one lieutenant-cfeneral 
and nineteen major and brigadier-generals ; and 11,800 
men were killed, wounded, or deserters. There were 
also among the spoils of the campaign two hundred and 
eleven field-pieces, ninety siege-guns, and 45,000 small- 
arms. The Union losses had been 943 killed, 7,095 
w^ounded, and 537 missiim, makino; a total of casualties 
of 8,575, and of the wounded nearly one-half returned 
to duty within a month. 

Having disposed of his prisoners at Vicksburg, Gen- 


68 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT 


eral Grant dispatched General Sherman with an ade- 
quate force to Jackson to defeat and break up John- 
ston’s army, and destroy, the rebel stores • collected 
there, in both which enterprises he was successful. 



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CHAPTER VI. ' 

; f . r 

The General takes his first furlough — Accident at New Orleans — 
The intended promotion of General Grant by the Government — 
Delay in consequence of the accident — The campaign/ successes 
and peril of the Army of the Cumberland — Ilosecrans relieved 
^ and Thomas appointed its commander — General Grant in com- 
mand of the Military Division of the Mississippi — Bragg’s threat — 
Grant’s plans — Hooker’s ascent of Lookout Mountain — The cap- 
ture of Orchard Knob — Sherman’s assaults on Fort Buckner — 
The storming of Mission Ridge — Capture of Fort Bragg — Pursuit 
of Bragg — Sherman raises the siege of Knoxville — President 
Lincoln’s Letter — General Grant’s congratulatory order — Honors 
lavished on the successful General — The medal — Work at Chatta- 
nooga and elsewhere — The Meridian Expedition — Partial success. 

During the long period of two and a quarter years 
since he had entered the army, General Grant had 
never sought or received a day’s furlough. But after 
this great victory, and while the thanks of the .Presi- 
dent, the Cabinet, Congress, and the people, were 

• 

lavished upon him Avithout stint, he sought for a few 
days’ rest Avith his family, and received it. His stay 
with them was brief, and he returned to his duties, de- 
scending the Mississippi — now, thanks to his skillful 
generalship, open to the commerce of all nations from 
its mouth to the Falls of St. Anthony — to New Orleans, 
to confer Avith General Banks relative to the operations 
of the autumn.- While here, on the 4th of September, 
he Avas seriously injured by being thrown from his 
horse while revicAving the troops of General Banks’s 
'department. - .i: 


70 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


It had been the intention of the Government to place 
him in command of all the troops west of the Allegha- 
nies and east of the Mississippi, on the resumption of 
active warfare in September, but this accident, unfor- 
tunately, postponed that appointment. These troops 
were, at this time, comprised in three distinct armies — 
the ^ Army of the Cumberland, under the command of 
General Rosecrans ; the Army of the Tennessee, 'under 
General Sherman ; and the Army of the Ohio, under 
General Burnside. The interest of the whole country 
was now concentrating on the first of these, the Army 
of the Cumberland. General Rosecrans, an able 
officer, had fought a great battle at, Stone River, near 
Murfreesboro’, the beginning of the year, with the 
rebel General Bragg, and had compelled him to retreat 
to Tullahoma ; but both armies had maintained a posi- 
tion of observation from that period until the last of 
June, when Rosecrans made a movement forward, and 
.threatening to flank Bragg, caused him to evacuate 
Tullahoma, and drove him, by persistent and steady 
pressure to Chattanooga, a strong position, and one 
which it was very important for the United States 
Government to have in its possession, as it was the 
key to East Tennessee, w^hich, though loyal, had long 
been in the hands of the rebels. General Rosecrans, by 
an admirable flank movement, compelled Bragg to mai*ch 
out of Chattanooga to give him battle, and occupied 
that important post meanwdiile with a small garrison. 

At this critical juncture, Bragg was largely re-en- 
forced from the Army of Virginia, and the battle of 
.Chickamauga was fought on the 19th and 20th of Sep- 
tember, and the result was indecisive, since the Union 
army, though driven back and losing’ heavily, still oc- 
cupied Chattanooga, the goal for which they fought, 


CnAlTANOOGA. 


71 


and had inflicted a loss equal to or greater than their 
own upon the enemy. The condition of the Army of 
tlie Cumberland was, nevertheless, precarious for the 
next two months, and that of the Army of the Ohio, 
which occupied Knoxville, Tennessee, hardly less so. 
Tlie rebels held possession of Lookout IVlountain and 
Mission Kidge, and thus were able to lay an embargo 
upon both railroad and river communication with Nash- 
ville and Louisville, the real bases of the Army of the 
Cumberland, and had, moreover, captured a large train 
of supplies. Rations and forage could only be brought 
for the supply of the Army of the Cumberland by sixty 
miles’ cartage over the worst roads in the Republic, and 
the force, augmented in October and November by two 
army corps from the Army of the Potomac, and by a 
])art of Sherman’s Army of the Tennessee, was for some 
months on half rations. It was at this time that General 
Rosecrans was relieved of the command of the Army 
of the Cumberland, and General Thomas made his suc- 
cessor, while General Grant was put in command of the 
grand military division of the jMississippi, comprising 
the three armies already named. lie had not long as- 
sumed command when aft airs put on a brighter aspect. 
By an adroit movement, the sixty miles of wagon-road 
was reduced to ten, over a good road ; and presently, 
by another equally adroit maneuver, the navigation of 
the Tennessee below Chattanooga was secured, and 
arrangements made for the speedy repair of 'the Nash- 
ville and Chattanooga Railroad. Still, so sanguine was 
Bragg that he should soon obtain possession of Chatta- 
nooga, that on the 21st of November he sent this mes- 
sage by flag of truce to General Grant : — “ Humanity 
would dictate the removal of all non-combatants from 
Chattanooga, as I am about to shell the city 1” 


72 


GENERAL ^U. S. GRANT. 


The reply to this threat came promptly, but it was 
not fully delivered until the evening of the 25th of that 
month. 

General Grant had been devising means and ways 
for the expulsion of the rebel forces from the valley of 
Chattanooga and its vicinity, and his plans were just 
ripe for execution, when this summons came from Bragg. 
That general had been betrayed into the indiscretion of 
sending Longstreet with about twenty thousand troops 
to besiege Knoxville, and had thus fatally weakened his 
force. Giving instructions to General Burnside to lure 
him on, and while delaying his progress by occasional, 
and, apparently, strenuous resistance, to fall back after 
each battle, till Longstreet was securely entrapped, he 
made rapid dispositions to punish Bragg most severely 
for his audacity. Pontoons were secretly transported 
to the Tennessee, near the mouth of Korth Chickamauga 
Creek, and a sufficient body of troops crossed in boats 
to drive off any rebel troops in the immediate vicinity ; 
and then, at a preconcerted signal, the pontoons were 
laid, a cavalry force crossed, and sent to cut the rail- 
roads leading to Knoxville effectually, and, a large body 
of troops following them, took possession of an isolated 
hill between the Atlanta Railroad and the river. This 
movement was made under General Sherman’s direction. 
General Hooker, meantime, was dispatched with a suffi- 
cient and resolute force to take possession of Lookout 
Mountain and drive the rebels from it. He marched 
down Lookout Valley, and seemed to be intending to 
reach and ascend a pass ten miles below, but, when 
out of sight of the rebel camps on the brow of the 
mountain, suddenly turned, ascended, and attacked 
them in the rear, and, after a series of gallant engage- 
ments, subceeded in driving them, with heavy loss, from 


FORT BUCKNER. 


73 


the mountain, which, the next morning, was crowned 
with the Union flag. 

On the previous day, simultaneously with Sherman’s • 
movements, General Thomas had moved out of Chatta- 
nooga with a heavy force, and after a sharp action and 
a brilliant charge, obtained possession of Orchard Knob 
and another eminence in front of Chattanooga, on which 
the rebels had a strong redoubt, and which commanded 
a part of Mission Ridge and the principal forts of the 
rebels on that ridofe. 

O 

On the 25th of Kovember, General Grant directed 
General Sherman to make persistent and repeated de- 
monstrations against Fort Buckner, situated on Tunnel 
Hill, the northern extremity of the continuous Mission 
Ridge, not in the expectation that he would be able to 
carry the fort by his assaults, but to draw the attention 
of the rebels in that direction, while he was preparing 
to attack them from Fort Wood. Sherman’s first as- 
sault was made about 10 a. m. ; it was repulsed, as were 
other successive assaults delivered on one and the other 
slope of the ridge on which Fort Buckner stood defiant, 
and, as the rebels believed, impregnable. The assaulting 
columns were re-enforced accain and a 2 :ain, and, thouoch 
not successful in carrying the fort, they had accom- 
plished all that Grant desired; they had drawn thither 
a large portion of the rebel force, thus weakening the 
garrisons of Forts Breckinridge and Bragg, further 
south on the same ridcfe, and had been able to c:ain 
and hold a position far up the slope, from which, when 
the time came, they could deliver a crushing blow upon 
the rebel fort. It had been announced to the corps in 
a general order, that the firing of six guns was to be 
the signal for the movement of the Fourth Army Corps 
(General Gordon Granger’s) to the assault of Fort 


74 


GENERAL IT. S. GRANT. 


Breckinridge, the largest and most formidable of the 
enemy’s works on Mission Ridge, situated nearly a mile 
below Fort Buckner. This fort' was about two miles 
distant, and nearly northeast of Fort Wood, the earth- 
work on the summit of Orchard Knob, where Thomas’s 
army were assembled. A little past 3 p. m.. General 
Sherman sent word to General Grant that he could hold 
his position, and at twenty minutes to four the signal 
guns boomed from Fort Wood, and the divisions of 
Wood, Sheridan, and Baird, forming the Fourth Army 
Corps, sprang to their positions, and in five minutes 
were marching steadily toward the ridge. The rebel 
batteries on the summit, and the rifle-pits which girded 
the slope and the base of the ridge, commenced at once 
a sweeping fire over the plain which the assaulting party 
must cross ; and the Union batteries — (Forts Wood and 
Negley, Forts Palmer and King, from a point nearer 
Chattanooga, Bridge’s battery from the base of Orchard 
Knob, and Moccasin Point Battery, from the other side 
of the Tennessee) — hurled in reply their heavy shot and 
shell, at long range, on the rebel forts and rifle-pits. 
Undismayed by the tempest of shot, and shell, and 
bullets that rained so fiercely upon them, the veteran 
troops pressed steadily and swiftly forward, cleared with 
a hurrah the rifle-pits at the base of the ridge, sending 
the rebel troops which had occupied it back as prisoners, 
and instantly ascending the precipitous slope, a slope so 
steep that it would task severely the po^-. ers of a skillful 
climber to reach the top unopposed ; yet, with an ardor 
that nothing could restrain, upward, still upward they 
went, though every step was attended with loss from 
the fire of the thirteen batteries on the summit, and the 
volleys of musketry which belched forth from the rebel 
rifle-pits and barricades half way up the slope. These 


MISSION KIDGE. 


75 


last are soon carried with a shout, and their occupants 
sent reeling down the slope under the fire of their own 
batteries ; and, without stopping for breath, the Union 
soldiers push on up a steep so precipitous that the can- 
non in the forts can not be depressed sufficiently to reach 
them, and it is only the musketry fire from the rebels 
on the summit which opposes them. The rebels did 
not, would not, believe that they could reach the top. 
Bragg himself declared it utterly impossible. Five 
minutes before the Union troops captured Fort Breck- 
inridge, an old lady, at whose house on the summit 
Bragg made his head-quarters, said to him, “General, 
what shall we do if the Yankees do get up here?” 
“ Oh ! never fear,” was Bragg’s reply, “ they can not 
reach the top ; every man of them will be killed before 
they get near it.” “But,” said the old lady to a Union 
officer, “he had hardly said so, when they came swarming 
up, and General Bragg and General Breckinridge had to 
ride for their lives.” The top of the ridge was gained ; 
Fort Breckinridge, after a brief but sharp struggle, was 
captured; and Bragg’s army, routed, and abandoning all 
their artillery and most of their small-arms, fled, tum- 
bled, and rolled down the eastern slope of the ridge. 
Instantly Sherman advanced and drove the rebels from 
Fort Buckner, while Hooker, who had been moving 
from the eastern slope of Lookout mountain since early 
morning, and had ascended Mission Ridge some distance 
below, came uppn Fort Bragg, two miles below, and 
drove its garrison into the valley of the Chicka- 
mauga. 

General Bragg was answered. The non-combatants 
were not removed from Chattanooga, and that redoubt- 
able general, partly from the loss of most of his cannon, 
and partly from the entire rout of his forces and their 


76 


GENERAL U. 8. GRANT. 


rapid retreat eastward, was unable to fulfill bis threat 
of shelling the city. 

But General Grant had not yet done with General 
Bragg or his troo23S. On the morning of the 26th, long 
before dawn, Davis’s division of the Fourteenth Corps 
were in rapid pursuit of the retreating foe, and very 
soon after sunrise three corps. Hooker’s, Palmer’s, and 
Sherman’s, were on their way, and, overtaking the rear 
of the enemy, drove them in confusion from Chicka- 
mauga depot, capturing and destroying large quantities 
of supplies and some cannon ; and thence pushing for- 
ward to Pigeon Pidge and Graysville, still skirmishing 
wherever the rebels would make a stand, drove them 
eastward to Ringgold Gap, where they fought for a 
time desperately, having every advantage of position, 
but were eventually driven from the Gap and beyond 
Red Clay Station, on the Dalton and Cleveland Railroad ; 
and that railroad being destroyed, thus effectually cut- 
tinor off all communication between Brao:2: and Lono^- 
street, the pursuit was given over, and the shattered 
columns of Bragg’s army were gathered at Dalton, 
where Bragg was at once displaced from command, and 
Hardee, and eventually J. E. Johnston, put at the head 
of the rebel army. 

Meantime, General Grant had directed General Sher- 
man, after pursuing the enemy a few miles, to turn 
northward, and, marching with all practicable speed, 
put himself in communication with General Burnside 
and compel Longstreet to raise the siege of Knoxville. 
This was accomplished, and Longstreet, who, enraged 
at having been outwitted, had dashed himself in vain 
against the defenses of Knoxville, found himself com- 
pelled, on the 4th of December, by the near approach 
of Sherman’s army, to abandon the siege and retreat 


PRESIDENT Lincoln’s letter. 


77 


toward Virginia, while both Foster’s and Sherman’s 
cavalry pursued. 

With this movement the campaign of Chattanooga 
closed, a campaign hardly less brilliant than that of 
Vicksburg, and one which paralyzed for months the 
rebel army in the Southwest. 

On the 7th of December it was announced that from 
the commencement of the war, up to that date, the 
armies under General Grant’s particular command had 
captured four hundred and seventy two cannon, ninety 
thousand prisoners, and more than a hundred thousand 
stand of small-arms. 

On the 8th of December the President of the United 
States sent the following dispatch to General Grant : — 


Washington, Dec. 8, ]863. 

Major- General Grant : — 

Uoderstanding that your lodgment at Chattanooga and Knoxville 
is now secure, I wish to tender you, and all under }"Our command, 
my more than thanks — my profoundest gratitude, for the skill, cour- 
age, and perseverance with which you and they, over so great dif- 
ficulties, have effected that important object. God bless you all I 

A. LINCOLN. 

On the 10th of December, General Grant issued the 
following congratulatory order to the array under his com- 
mand. Its quiet, self-possessed, and appreciative tone, 
while they contrast favorably with the boastful character 
of some of the general orders of officer-#whose achieve- 
ments were far less conspicuous than his, remind us 
forcibly of the orders of that other great commander, 
whom in so many traits of character he strikingly 
resembles, the Duke of Wellington : — 


78 


GENERAL JJ. S. GRANT. 


Head-quarters, Military Division’ of the Mississippi, ) 

IN THE Field, Chattanooga, Tennessee, j 

December, 10, 1863. 

General Orders^ No. 9. 

The general commanding takes this opportunity of returning his 
sincere thanks and-congratulations to the brave armies of the Cum- 
berland, the Ohio, the Tennessee, and their comrades from the Poto- 
mac, for the recent splendid and decisive successes achieved over the 
enemy. In a short time you have recovered from him the control 
of the Tennessee River from Bridgeport to Knoxville. You dislodged 
him from his great stronghold upon Lookout Mountain, drove him 
from Chattanooga Yalley, wrested from his determined grasp the 
possession of Missionary Ridge, repelled with heavy loss to him his 
repeated assaults upon Knoxville, forcing him to raise the siege there, 
driving him at all points, utterly routed and discomfited, beyond the 
limits of the State. By your noble lieroism and determined courage 
you have most effectually defeated the plans of the enemy for regain- 
ing possession of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. You have 
secured positions from which no rebellious power can drive or dis- 
lodge you. For all this, the general commanding thanks you, col- 
lectively and individually. The loyal people of the United States 
thank and bless you. Their hopes and prayers for your success 
against this unholy rebellion are with you daily. Their faith in you 
will not be in vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. Their prayers 
to Almighty God will be answered. You will yet go to other fields 
of strife ; and with the invincible bravery and unflinching loyalty to 
justice and right which have characterized you in the past, you will 
prove that no enemy can withstand you, and that no defenses, how- 
ever formidable, can check your onward march. 

By order of Maj.-Gen. U. S. GRANT. 

T. S. Bowers, A. A. G. 

The honors lavished upon General Grant for this and 
his previous su^esses, were not confined to the thanks 
sent him by the President. On the 17th December, 1 863, 
a joint resolution passed both Houses of Congress, and 
received the Executive approval, which, in addition to 
the thanks of the National Legislature, provided for a 


THE MEDAL OF COGNRESS. 


79 


gold medal, with suitable emblems, devices, and inscrip- 
tions, to be prepared and presented to General Grant. 
This token of a nation’s grateful regard was designed by 
the artist Leutze. On one face of the medal was a pro- 
file likeness of the hero, surrounded by a wreath of 
laurels — his name and the year of his victories inscribed 
upon it ; and the whole surrounded by a galaxy of stars. 
The design for the obverse was the figure of Fame seated 
in a graceful attitude on the American Eagle, which, with 
wings outspread, seems about to take flight. In her right 
hand she holds her trumpet, and in her left a scroll on 
which are inscribed Corinth, Vicksburg, Mississippi Riv- 
er, and Chattanooga. On her head is an Indian helmet 
with radiating feathers. In front of the eagle is the em- 
blematic shield of the United States. Below the group, 
sprigs of the pine and palm, denoting the North and 
South, cross each other. Above the figure of Fame, in a 
curved line, is the motto, “Proclaim Liberty throughout 
the Land.” The edge is surrounded by a circle of By- 
zantine stars, exceeding the number of the present States 
of the Union. Resolutions of thanks were also passed 
by the Legislatures of most of the loyal States ; and 
numerous costly presents (swords, pistols, &c.) were made 
by admiring friends. None of these honors, however, 
produced on the part of tlie recipient of them any ela- 
tion, or changed in the least the simplicity and modesty 
of his manners, or his earnest devotion to the work of 
putting down the rebellion. His health was not fully 
re-established, after the severe injuries he had received 
at New Orleans, but he toiled more continuouslv and 
patiently than any ofiicer in the service. The communi- 
cations of his army with its bases at Nashville and Louis- 
ville, which had long been broken or in indifferent con- 
dition, must be put in the best order, and abundant 


80 


GENEBxiL U. g. GRANT. 


stores accumulated at Chattanooga, ISTasliville, and 
Knoxville, for the coming campaign into the heart of 
Georgia. His men, worn down by short rations and 
severe labors, must be recruited by the best of care to 
the Inghest degree of efficiency, and withal there must 
be, during the winter months, a severe and crushing blow 
struck upon some vital point of the Confederacy in the 
Southwest. He had hoped to join in a co-operative 
movement with the department of the Gulf on Mobile, 
but his plans in that direction were thwarted by some 
adverse influences. He then determined upon an expe- 
dition from Vicksburg eastward to reach Meridian, 
Miss., and, if possible, Selma and Montgomery, Ala. ; 
this expedition to be joined at or near Meridian by a 
cavalry force dispatched simultaneously from Lagrange, 
southward, and the two to traverse at will the central 
portions of Mississippi and Alabama. The enterprise 
was a bold and daring one ; the army which should un- 
dertake it must cut loose from their base, and obtain 
their subsistence mainly from the enemy’s country — and 
this, with a force of twenty or twenty-five thousand men, 
was not an easy matter. The management and leader- 
ship of the principal column, which was to move east- 
ward from Vicksburg, he assigned to his tried and able 
lieutenant, General William T. Sherman, and the com- 
mand of the cavalry co-operating force to his chief of 
cavalry. General W. Sooy Smith. The expedition 
started early in February, and penetrated as far as 
Meridian ; but the cavalry failing to join them, they ad- 
vanced no further eastward, but returned to Vicksburg 
after an absence of a month. In consequence of this 
failure on the part of the cavalry to connect, which was 
not wholly their fault, the expedition did not produce 
all the results expected from it by General Grant ; but 


THE MERIDIAN EXPEDITION. 


81 


it greatly crippled the resources of the rebels, made their 
railroads worthless as communications, and by the alarm 
it awakened prevented the forces in the vicinity of the 
Gulf from joining Johnston, who had now succeeded 
Hardee in the command of the rebel array at Dalton. 

4 * 


f* 


9 






CHAPTER VII. 


Commissioned Lieutenant-General — Yisits the various departments 
— Conference with Sherman — Preparations for the campaign of 
1864 — Lee’s army — The forces under command of General Grant 
— The advance — Battles of the Wilderness — Spottsylvania — 
North Anna — Pamimkey — Cold Harbor — Crossing the Chick- 
ahominy and the James — Petersburg — Cavalry movements — The 
double attack north and south of the James — The Mine — Hatcher’s 
Bun — Deep Bottom — Chapin’s Farm — Hatcher’s Bun again — 
Sheridan appointed to the Army of the Shenandoah — ^His successes 
— Final movements before Petersburg and Bichmond — Sherman’s 
grand marches — Thomas at Franklin and Nashville — Canby at 
Mobile — Cavalry expeditions — Lee’s surrender — Joe Johnston’s 
surrender — Assassination of the President — Beviews — Banquets 
and donations to General Grant — The grade of full General con- 
ferred. 

» 

While the expedition to Meridian was in progress 
General Grant was summoned to new and higher re- 
sponsibilities. Congress resolved to revive' the grade of 
Lieutenant-General, which had been conferred by brevet 
only, on General Scott, but as an actual rank in time of 
war had only been bestowed on General Washington; 
and a law to that effect having been passed, the Presi-> 
dent at once nominated Grant Lieutenant-General, 
and the Senate confirmed him. The commission bore 
date March 2d, 1864, and on the ninth of that month 
the President presented to him in person his commis- 
sion, assuring him of his own hearty personal concur- 
rence in the measure. General Grant replied very 
briefly, but evidently with deep feeling. On the twelfth 


TAKES THE FIELD IX TEUSOX. 


83 


of March, the President, by official order, assigned to 
the Lieutenant-General the command of the armies of 
the United States; at the same time appointing General 
W. T. Sherman commander of the grand military divi- ' 
sion of the Mississippi, which General Grant had pre- 
viously commanded ; and General McPherson, an able 
and accomplished officer, to succeed General Sherman 
in command of the Army of the Tennessee ; while 
General Halleck, hitherto general-in-chief, was relieved 
from duty, and made chief of staff to the army, at 
Washington. 

General Grant had, in January, 1864, visited all parts 
of his command, the military division of the Mississippi, 
and carefully observed its condition, but his position 
as lieutenant-general required that he should spend 
some time in ascertaining the condition of the other 
western departments, and that he should arrange with 
General Sherman the future movements of the spring 
and summer campaign. This done, he returned as 
speedily as possible, and made every preparation for 
the coming campaign in Virginia, lie proposed taking 
command in person of the forces destined to assail 
Pichmond, though keeping a vigilant oversight of the 
movements in other parts of the country. General 
Sherman, with his magnificent force, composed of the 
three armies of the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and 
the Ohio, had been ordered to move, as nearly as pos- 
sible, simultaneously with the armies in Virginia, so 
that there should be no re-enforcements sent from one 
rebel army to the other, as there had been during the 
previous autumn. 

The force with which Grant took the field against 
Lee, was such a one as has seldom been under a single 
commander, or concentrated upon a single object. It 


84 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


consisted in fact, of three armies; the Army of the 
Potomac, under the command of Major-General Meade, 
consisting of three corps of infantry recruited up to 
‘ tlieir full strength, and numbering each nearly fifty 
thousand men, with such corps-commanders as Hancock, 
Warren, and Sedgwick; a cavalry corps of extraor- 
dinary ability, commanded by the gallant and fiery 
Sheridan, and a reserve corps of about forty thousand 
men, one-third of them colored troops, under the com- 
mand of the brave and trusty Burnside; the Army of 
the James, under the command of Major-General Butler, 
composed of two corps, one that was hitherto known 
as the Army of Eastern Virginia and IsTorth Carolina, 
the other a fine corps, partly composed of colored 
troops, under the command of General Gilmore, hitherto 
forming a part of the Army of the department of the 
South ; and the Army of the Shenandoah, commanded 
by Major-General Franz Sigel, and composed of the 
Army of Western Virginia, under General Crooks, and 
to which was subsequently added the Nineteenth Army 
Corps, formerly from the department of the Gulf, com- 
manded by General Emory, and with these a consider- 
able cavalry force. But, though seeking the accom- 
plishment of a common object — the reduction of Bich- 
mond — these armies were moving from different points, 
and over different fields, to effect it. Lee'S forces lay 
south of the Rapidan, stretching eastward from Orange 
Court-House, and his cavalry guarding his left flank 
toward Gordonsville, and his right near Chancellors- 
ville. The Army of the Potomac, which for months 
had been confronting him, lay north of the Rapidan, 
its head-quarters being at Culpeper Court-House, and 
its camps extending from Brandy Station to Robertson’s 
River. To this army was assigned the opening of the 


CROSSING THE RAPIDAN. 


85 


conflict, and the mighty task of driving hack Lee’s vast 
force, which possessed the advantage of interior lines. 
The Army of the James had for its first diity the seizing, 
by an adroitly executed feint, the position at Bermuda 
Hundred, lying on tlie south or right bank of the James, 
nearly midway between Richmond and Petersburg ; 
and, if it should prove practicable, the interposition of 
a sufficient force permanently between Richmond and 
Petersburg, and the capture of the latter city. The 
Army of the Shenandoah, though not at first existing 
under that title, had for its first mission a movement 
upon Staunton, Waynesboro’ and Lynchburg, with the 
intent of crippling the resources, and effectually cut- 
ting off the supplies of Lee’s army from the West, and 
at the same time guarding against any sudden move- 
ment of a rebel force down the Valley of the Shenan- 
doah, and into 3 [ary land and Pennsylvania. 

Every thing being thus prepared, the order was given 
on the night of May 3d, for the Army of the Potomac 
to break up camp, and on the morning of the 4th, 
the three corps crossed the Rapidan, the Second Corps 
(Hancock’s) in front, crossing at Ely’s Ford, the Fifth 
(Warren’s), and the Sixth (Sedgwick’s) immediately 
following, crossing at Germanna Ford. This movement, 
which aimed at flanking Lee’s right, as his army were 
strongly intrenched at Mine Run, was at once observed 
by General Lee, who, with his usual promptness, made 
a counter movement to match it. From a short dis- 
tance south of Germanna Ford, eastward to and beyond 
Chancellorsville, stretches a tract of dense, tangled 
forest and undergrowth, fifteen or twenty miles in 
length, and about five miles wide, traversed by few and 
indifierent roads, known as “ The Wilderness.” It was 
in the eastern part of this that the battle of Chancel- 


86 


GENERAL IT. 8. GRANT. 


lorsville was fought, in May, 1863. Into this desolate 
and difficult region the Army of the Potomac plunged 
almost immediately on crossing the Rapidan ; and 
against their line, at right angles, between the Fifth 
and Sixth Corps, Lee flung Longstreet’s corps, on 
Thursday, May 5th, before they had had the opportunity 
of getting into position, and while they were yet em- 
barrassed by the dense and tangled undergrowth of 
the forest. 

The weight of the first attack fell on Sedgwick’s 
corps, which, though losing heavily, succeeded in 
holding its own. Drawing back momentarily. Long- 
street returned to the attack with still greater despera- 
tion, and at first seemed to be carrying all before him, 
but Sedgwick’s veterans would not yield, and the enemy, 
sorely disappointed, withdrew ; then a fresh force was 
hurled against the center (Warren’s corps), but, though 
gaining a temporary advantage, was finally foiled, and 
beaten back. The battle lasted far into the night, but 
with indecisive results. At four o’clock, a. m., on 
Friday, 6th of May, Lee renewed the attack, again 
massing his force, and attempting to break through the 
right and center ; the attack was repulsed, and by six 
A. M., Hancock commenced driving the rebels, who fell 
back to a high ridge, with a marsh in front — a position 
they had previously fortified. Through the day the 
fighting was terribly severe, each party in turn gaining 
some slight success, though at the expense of terrible 
slaughter. Toward dark an attack was made on the 
extreme right of the Union lines, and they were turned, 
and the right completely flanked. General Grant 
showed his military skill and fertility of resources by 
extending his left and center, which were still firm, 
southward, and bringing his right into a new position, 


AT SPOTTSYLVANIA. 


87 


changing his base meanwhile to Fredericksburg and the 
Rappahannock. He thus flanked Lee in turn, and out 
of threatened defeat evoked success. He had also 
gained another advantage, in getting out of The Wilder- 
ness into a more open country, wLere he could use his 
artillery with greater efiect. Moreover, Burnside, with 
a part of the reserves, had come up in season to take 
part in the flght of Friday afternoon. An advance at 
daybreak on Saturday (May Vth) showed that Lee had 
fallen back. Grant pursued vigorously, and came upon 
him near Spottsylvania Court-House, where he had taken 
a new and very strong position. On Sunday, Monday, 
and Tuesday there was some sharp fighting, but without 
any decisive result. On Wednesday the fighting Avas 
more severe, but still without marked result. On 
Wednesday night (11th), General Grant directed Han- 
cock’s (Second) corps to be transferred to the left, 
taking up a position between Sedgwick’s (Sixth) and 
Burnside’s (Ninth) corps. This movement Avas made 
for the purpose of turning the enemy’s right, and at the 
same time forcing them further from their connections 
with Richmond. At half-past four a. m., on the 12th, 
the Second Corps (Hancock’s) moved on the enemy in a 
most terrible bayonet-charge, Avhich proA^ed a perfect 
surprise to the rebels, Aviiming the day, capturing thirty 
heavy guns, and OA^er four thousand prisoners, including 
tAVO generals. The Fifth and Ninth Corps also made 
successful, charges. This A\^as the first great success of 
the campaign, and it rendered the rebels desperate ; 
they made repeated and obstinate charges in the at- 
tempt 10 retake the positions captured by Hancock, 
continuing their struggles, though at terrible cost, till 
three o’clock on Friday morning. On Friday, Lee re- 
formed his lines, moving further to the right, and Grant 


88 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


kept pace with him. On Friday night the rebels at- 
tacked the Fifth Corps (Warren’s), but were repulsed 
with severe loss. From the 12th to the 18th of May 
there was a lull in the fighting, both armies resting, and 
receiving large re-enforcements. On the 18th, General 
Hancock attacked the right flank of the rebels, and 
gained two lines of his intrenchments. Burnside was 
also engaged the same day, but without decisive result. 
General Grant had already planned another flanking 
movement, by way of Guiney’s Station to Milford 
Bridge, which occupied the next three days, and which 
was successfully executed, except some loss of wagons 
and ambulances, from an attack of Ewell. Lee mean- 
time had moved and occupied a strong position between 
the North and South Anna. After some hard fighting, 
in which the Union troops reaped partial success. General 
Grant found their position too strong for direct attack, 
and again prepared to make a flank movement. Or- 
dering the army to recross the North Anna, and, making 
an attack with his right wing to cover the movement, 
he burned the bridge of the Virginia Central Railroad, 
rapidly crossed the Pamunkey, and on the 31st of May 
had his entire army across the Pamunkey, and within 
fifteen miles of Richmond. Here ao;ain he found Lee 
ready to receive him, and, with re-enforcements received 
from the Shenandoah Valley, presented a full front. For 
two or three days there was cavalry fighting and skir- 
mishing, but no general engagement. On the 1st of 
June, the Sixth Corps took up a strong position near 
Cold Harbor, where they were joined by a force under 
General W. F. Smith, detached from the Army of the 
James. Here, on the 3d of June, a stubborn and des- 
perate battle was fought, which resulted in the posses- 
sion of Cold Harbor by the Union forces. The same 


BUTLERj SIGEL, AND HUNTER. 


89 


day tlie Union troops attacked the rebel position, and a 
bloody and protracted engagement followed, but tliey 
failed to carry the rebel works. Finding that to dis- 
lodge the enemy from his position by direct attack 
would require too great a sacrifice of life. General Grant 
now determined on the bold measure of crossing the 
James Kiver, and makinc: his attack on Richmond from 
that side. This movement was made in the face of the 
enemy, though without his knowledge, in three days, 
viz., from the 12th to the 15th of June. 

General Butler had, meantime, been executing his part 
of the programme with great zeal. He had occupied 
Bermuda Hundred, and fortified his 2 ^o^itioll there ; had 
cut the railroad below Petersburg, and made a dash 
upon that city, but had not succeeded in capturing it; 
had laid siege to Fort Darling, but had been unable to 
liold his position against the rebel force ; had repelled 
the rebel attacks upon his lines, and was in position to 
welcome the approach of tlie Army of the Potomac, and 
render it valuable assistance. The Army of West Vir- 
ginia, under General Sigel, had been less successful. 
On the 15th of May, he encountered a considerable 
rebel force at Reed’s Hill, near Mount Jackson, in the 
Valley of the Shenandoah, and was severely handled. 
He was then relieved of command, and succeeded by 
General Hunter, who at first met with better fortune. 
He defeated General Sam Jones, near Staunton, and 
killed him; took 1,500 prisoners and several guns, 
driving the rebels to Waynesboro’. On the 8th, he 
formed a junction with Crook and Averill ; and, while 
General Sheridan moved toward Gordonsville, and de- 
feated the rebels at Trevillian Station, Hunter pressed 
on toward Lynchburg, destroying railroads and bridges 
on his way, but finding it strongly defended did not 


90 


GENERAL TJ. S. GRANT. 


venture to attack, and Early marching against him, in 
turn, with a large force, retreated into the mountains, 
and made a forced march into Western Virginia. On 
this march his army suffered terribly, and he lost heavily 
in i^uns and wagons. 

Sheridan, meantime, had made his famous raid round 
Lee’s lines, destroying railroads, trains, depots of sup- 
plies, releasing our j>risoners, and capturing many of the 
enemy. He penetrated within the first line of works 
around Hichmond, and having cut all Lee’s communica- 
tions, reached Butler’s head-quarters in safety, five days 
after starting. 

The rebel General Early finding himself unopposed, 
extended his expedition down the Shenandoah, crossed 
into Maryland, occupied Hagerstown and Frederick, 
and plundered extensively ; fought two or three battles 
with the militia, which had been called out to oppose 
him; threatened Baltimore and Washington ; approach- 
ing within two miles of the latter city, but finding that 
the ^NTineteenth Corps, from ISTew Orleans, and the Sixth, 
from the Army of the Potomac, were ready to attack 
him, and that General Couch, from Pennsylvania, was 
threatening his rear, he hastened back into Virginia, 
taking with him most of his plunder. 

General Grant, having reached the south side of the 
James, ordered an immediate attack on Petersburg. 
This would probably have proved successful but for the 
lack of co-operation on the part of the cavalry force, 
through some misunderstanding. A series of attacks 
were made upon the rebel works, and by the 22d of 
June the city was invested, except on the north and 
west. There was sharp fighting that day for the posses- 
sion of the Petersburg and Danville or Southside Rail- 
road, which was finally held by the Union troops. 


EXPLOSION OF THE MINE. 


91 


Meantime, an extensive raid was made by Wilson and 
Kautz’s cavalry upon the Weldon Railroad, several 
miles of which they destroyed, together with stores, 
&c. Before they could reach our lines, however, they 
were surrounded by a large rebel force, and lost seven 
or eight hundred men. After an interval of com- 
parative quiet, during which General Grant had suc- 
ceeded in running a mine nearly under the Confederate 
fortifications, he ordered a feint to be made on the 
north side of the James, to divert General Lee’s at- 
tention from an a*ssault which he purposed making 
on Petersburg at the time of exploding the mine. The 
feint, better known as the action of Strawberry Plains, 
was successful in turning the enemy’s left, and captur- 
ing four heavy guns. On the 30th of July the mine, 
which was charged with eight tons of powder, was 
exploded, and the assault commenced. There was a 
disagreement between the commanders, and fatal delays 
occurred, which permitted the rebels to recover from 
their first panic, and make effectual resistance, and the 
movement failed of success, and entailed heavy losses 
upon the troops engaged in it. Not disheartened by 
this failure. General Grant continued his operations 
with renewed energy. The battle of Deep Bottom, 
on the north side of the James, occurred on the 12th of 
August. The Second Corps alone was engaged, and dis- 
lodged the enemy from his position, taking five hun- 
dred prisoners, six cannon, and two mortars. On the 
18th of August, the Fifth Corps (Warren’s) moved on 
Reams’s Station, on the Weldon road, surprised the rebel 
force guarding it, and took possession of the road. 
On the 19th a large rebel force attacked Warren with 
great impetuosity, and breaking the right center. 
The Union troops rallied, however, and being re-en- 


92 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


forced by two divisions of the Ninth Corps, retrieved 
measurably the fortunes of the day, holding a part of 
the road, though with a loss of nearly 4,000 men. 

During the next five weeks there were no move- 
ments of great importance in the vicinity of Richmond 
or Petersburg, though a little advance had been made 
by occasional attacks upon the enemy’s lines. On the 
night of the 28th September, General Ord crossed the 
James to the north side, and early on the morning of the 
29th advanced on the intrenchments at Chapin’s farm, 
and carried them without serious loss, capturing nearly 
three hundred prisoners and fifteen pieces of artillery. 
General Birney, at the same time, moved up the 
Newmarket road, and carried the intrenchments there 
with perfect ease. The Union forces then took pos- 
session of Fort Harrison, and advanced as far as 
Laurel Hill. On the 30th, the rebels made a despe- 
rate effort to capture Fort Harrison, but failed, and 
the Union cavalry, on the 1st of October, made a 
reconnoissance within less than two miles of Rich- 
mond. On the 7th of October, the rebels attempted 
to turn the right flank of the Army of the J ames, but 
after some temporary success and some sharp fighting 
they were severely repulsed. On the 29th of October, 
General Grant ordered a reconnoissance in force 
against the rebel position at Hatcher’s Run. A severe 
battle ensued, with considerable loss on the part of 
the Union troops, but the position was held until 
General Grant ordered their withdrawal. 

Dissatisfied with the inefficiency which had existed 
in the Shenandoah Valley, and Northern Virginia and 
Maryland, General Grant advised, in August, the or- 
ganization of a new and larger department, to be 
called the Department of the Shenandoah, and the 


SHERIDAN AND SHERMAN. 


93 


appointment of Major-General Philip II. Sheridan to 
its command. This was done, and after careful watch- 
ing of the enemy for some time, General Sheridan 
decided that the hour for action had come. lie had 
at this time under his command the Army of Western 
Virginia, and the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps. On the 
19th of September was fought the battle known as that 
of Opequan Creek, in wliich, after a sharp contest. 
General Sheridan, by a brilliant cavalry charge, drove 
Early’s army from the field in confusion, capturing over 
2,000 prisoners and a large number of guns. On the 
22 d he attacked them again at Fisher’s Hill, routing 
them completely, capturing their artillery, horses, and 
ammunition, and pursued them as far as Staunton, caus- 
ing them a loss in the two engagements of over 10,000 
men. On the 9th, the rebel General Posser attacked 
Sheridan again at Fisher’s Hill, but was grievously 
defeated. On the 19th of October, General Early 
attacked the Union forces again, when General Sheri- 
dan was absent, and in the morning defeated it, driving 
the Union troops three uniles, and taking twenty-four 
cannon ; but Sheridan coming up, rallied his men, re- 
formed them, and defeated the rebels in turn, utterly 
routing them, capturing fifty-four pieces of artillery, in- 
cluding all his own. 

General Sherman had fulfilled, in the most brilliant 
manner, the work assigned to him. After a campaign 
of extraordinary vigor and many hard-fought battles, 
he took possession of Atlanta on the 2d of September. 
Hood, who was in command of the rebel force, rallying 
from his severe defeats, attempted to cut Sherman’s 
lines of communication with his base ; and Sherman 
giving him, for good reasons, every facility of doing so, 
sent General Thomas with two corps to the Tennessee 


94 


GENERAL TJ. S. GRANT. 


River to look after Hood, who was bv this time in 
:Alabama; and then,- tearing up the railroad between 
Atlanta and Chattanooga, and cutting loose from his 
base, started with a large force across the country, 
nearly three hundred miles, to Savannah, which was 
surrendered to him on the 22d of December. 

Meantime, Hood rashly pushed on after Thomas, 
whose instructions were to draw him on, and after fight- 
ing a severe battle at Franklin, on the 30th of IsTovem- 
ber, in which he lost in killed, wounded, and prisoners, 
eighteen generals and about 7,000 of his troops, at- 
tempted to invest Nashville; but on the 15th of De- 
cember General Thomas attacked and routed him 
completely, pursuing him to the Tennessee River. 
Hood’s losses were about 17,000 men in these two en- 
o;aocements. 

O O 

An expedition was planned late in the season by 
General Grant against Wilmington, and sailed on the 
13th of December from Hampton Roads, under the com- 
mand of General Butler, accompanied by a naval 
squadron under Rear-Admiral Porter. This expedition 
was unsuccessful, and the troops returned to City 
Point; but soon after a second expedition, under the 
command of General A. H. Terry, embarked for the 
same destination, and on the 15th of January captured 
Fort Fisher, and effectually sealed the harbor of Wil- 
mington. On the 6th of February, General Grant 
ordered another movement with four corps of the army 
to Hatcher’s Run, ^ith the intention of establishing his 
lines in closer proximity to the Weldon Railroad. The 
struggle was a desperate one, and on the second day 
the enemy was successful, as before, in finding a gap in 
the Union lines, through which he broke, causing a 
considerable loss ; but the Union soldiers were able the 


THE SOUTHSIDE RAILROAD. 


95 


next day to regain the ground they had lost and hold 
it, and established themselv'es permanently four miles in 
advance of their previous position. On the 25th of 
]\Iarch the rebels, by a sudden attack in mass, seized 
Fort Steadman, near Petersburg, and caj^tured the gar- 
rison ; but the Union troops, rallying promptly, retook 
the fort, and drove the rebels back, into and beyond 
their works, and the Sixth and Second Corps advancing 
at the same time, gained and held a portion of their 
lines. The Union loss in this affair was about 2,000 ; that 
of the rebels over 6,000, of whom 2,800 were prisoners. 

On the 29th of March, the Union army was, by Gen- 
eral Grant’s order, put in motion, with a view to oc- 
cupying the Southside Railroad. For this purpose, he 
ordered General Sheridan, on the 29th of Marcli, to 
move Avith liis cavalry force (returned three days before 
from the great raid), by way of Reams’s Station to Din- 
Aviddie Court-House, and, threatening the Southside Rail- 



road in the direction of Burkesville Junction, com ud 
Lee to send a force AvestAvard to protect it, and the 
Second and Fifth Corps, as in the previous attacks upon 
the line of the Southside Railroad, to cross, by the 


96 


GENERAL U. 8. GRANT. 


Yaughan and Halifax roads, Hatcher’s Hun, and en- 
deavor to gain possession of the Boydton plank road. 

The movement was on a larger scale than any pre- 
vious one; and the weakness of the enemy, as de- 
veloped in the Fort Steadman afiair, gave promise of 
success. Portions of the Twenty-fourth and Twenty- 
fifth Corps, under command of General Ord, were 
brought across the river, and stationed along the line 
of the Vaughan road to maintain the connection be- 
tween the Sixth and Second Corps, in full strength. 
The first day the movement was successful. The 
cavalry reached Dinwiddie ; the Fifth Corps had a sharp 
fight for the possession of the Quaker road, but drove 
back the enemy ; the Second Corps had very little fight- 
ing. The 30th of March also passed without serious 
fighting, and the Fifth Corps had taken position on the 
White Oak road and the Boydton plank road, the 
Second Corps being near and within supporting dis- 
tance. On the 31st, the Fifth Corps, attempting to 
' advance on the White Oak road, toward Five Forks, 
where the enemy were intrenched in large force, was 
met and attacked by a heavy body of rebel troops, and 
Crawford’s and Ayres’s divisions driven back in disor- 
der to the Boydton plank road, where Griffin’s division 
still held its position. Meantime, Miles’s division of 
the Second Corps, witnessing the rapid retreat, moved 
forward promptly, and, striking the enemy in flank, 
drove them back ; and Griffin, with so much of Ayres’s 
and Crawford’s divisions as could be rallied, following 
and attacking the rebels, forced them back, till at night- 
fall the Fifth Corps occupied nearly the same position 
as in the morning. But this temporary repulse had 
opened a passage through which another division of 
the rebel forces flung themselves with great fury upon 


THE LAST CAMPATQX 


97 



98 


GENERAL IT. S. GRANT. 


Sheridan’s cavalry, cutting oif for a time Merritt’s divi- 
sion from the remainder of the cavalry, and imperiling 
the whole. General Sheridan, however, took the com- 
mand in person, and rallying his troops, and placing 
them, dismounted, behind temporary barricades, suc- 
ceeded in r^ulsing the attacks of the rebels, and com- 
pelling them to desist. When it was too dark for 
longer fighting, both forces bivouacked on their arms, 
within a few hundred yards of each other. 

The commander of the Fifth Corps, General G. K. 
Warren, had been ordered to report to'General Sheridan 
at midnight, March 31st, and General Grant had notified 
General Sheridan that he would do so. The cavalry 
commander was anxious for his assistance early, as he 
had made up his mind to defeat the rebels before him, 
and, driving them westward, to carry Five Forks by as- 
sault, the next day. As he did not appear. General 
Sheridan addressed him a note, dated 3, a. m., April 1st, 
requesting him to attack the rebel force, then in his 
front, in the rear at daylight, and he would attack them 
in front at the same time. General Warren, however, 
was delayed by the condition of the roads and the 
darkness, and could not get up in time. Sheridan, at 
daylight, charged the rebels Tn his front and drove 
them west of Chamberlain’s Creek, and met Warren 
and the Fifth Corps toward 8 o’clock, a. m., four or five 
miles north of Dinwiddie, and directed him to be ready 
to move on the enemy when he should receive orders. 
After a careful reconnoissance, Sheridan proceeded to 
invest Five Forks on two sides with his cavalry, and 
about two o’clock, p. m., ordered up the Fifth Corps to 
attack on the east side. The attack was not delivered 
with any great force, and once or twice the troops were 
repulsed, but they finally carried the intrenchments, 


THE END APPROACHING. 


99 


and the enemy were routed and driven westward. 
General Warren seems to have performed his duty well, 
though not with any great enthusiasm ; and the fiery 
little Irish general, who did not see his best behavior, 
was dissatisfied with his moderation and relieved him 
of his command, putting General Griffin in his place. 
The next day the enemy were driven by Miles’s division 
of the Second Corps, and Crawford’s and Ayres’s of the 
Fifth, from a strong position which tliey held at the 
junction of the Wliite Oak and Claiborne roads, and 
pursued to Sutherland’s Station on the Southside Rail- 
road, and thence by a front and rear attack to the river 
road along the banks of the Appomattox. 



Meantime, the troops which manned the lines around 
Petersburg had kept up a frequent and lieavy bombard- 
ment along the lines, and on the 2d of April the Sixth 
and Ninth Corps and the provisional corps assaulted 
the fortifications with great fury, and after a short but 


100 


GENERAL IT. S. GRANT. 


severe struggle broke through to the Southside Kail- 
road, and commenced tearing it up. They captured 
many i^risoners and guns in this bold assault, and of 
course rendered both Richmond and Petersburg un- 

O 

tenable. During the night both were evacuated, and 
were occupied on the morning of the 3d of April by 
Union troops. 

Not delaying to enter the vacated cities. General 

Grant pressed on to capture the rebel general and his 

• 

army. The pursuit was unremitting, and after actions 

of greater or less . extent at Deep Creek, Paine’s 
Cross-roads, Deatons ville, Farmville, and High Bridge 
over the Appomattox, and Appomattox Station, the 
rebels leaving at each point artillery, wagons, and sup- 
plies, on the 9th of April, General Lee surrendered his 
army to General Grant. The terms granted by the 
conqueror were liberal in the extreme. They were as 
follows : — 

“Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in 
duplicate ; one copy to be given to an officer designated 
by General Grant, the other to be retained by such 
officers as General Lee should designate. The officers 
to give their individual paroles not to take arms 
against the United States until properly exchanged, 
and each company or regimental commander to sign a 
like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, 
artillery, and public property to be packed and stacked, 
and turned over to the officer appointed by General 
Grant to receive them. This not to embrace the side- 
arms of the officers, nor their private horses or bag- 
gage. This done, each officer and man to be allowed 
to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United 
States authority so long as they observe their parole 
and the laws in foi’ce where they may reside.” 


OTHER M0VE:MENT9. 


101 


The surrender perfected, General Grant passed 
through Richmond, and thence to Washington, whence 
on the evening of April 14th he took the train for Phil- 
adelphia to visit his family, and while on his way was 
overtaken by the sad intelligence of the assassination 
of the President, and returned immediately to the capi- 
tal. 

Meanwhile, with that comprehensive grasp of mind 
which characterizes him, and that admirable perception 
of character which has always enabled him, when the 
choice was his, to select the men best adapted for car- 
rying out his plans. General Grant had been directing, 
in other quarters of the vast territory of the Union, im- 
portant movements, all tending to tlie one end of crush- 
ing the rebellion. Under his suggestion. General Sher- 
man had made his famous campaign of sixty days in the 
Carolinas, flanking Charleston and compelling its sur- 
render, capturing Columbia, Cheraw, Fayetteville, and in 
concert with Schofield and Terry (who had joined him 
after capturing the city of Wilmington), Goldsborough ; 
and having, after a fortnight’s delay to recruit, moved 
forward, had added Smithfield and Raleigh to his cap- 
tures, and held Johnston in a position where he must 
surrender. At the AYest, General Thomas, had sent a 
magnificent cavalry force under General AA^ilson to cap- 
ture Selma, Montgoihery, Columbus, Ga., AYest Point, 
Macon, &c.; an infantry force to aid General Canby in 
the department of the Gulf ; Schofield and the Army of 
the Ohio to assist in the reduction of AA’^ilmington ; and 
finally, Stoneman, with a large body of cavalry, through 
Southwest Virginia and AYestern North Carolina, to 
. attack Johnston and Lee in the rear; and this force, 
having thoroughly broken the Virginia and East Ten- 
nessee Railroad, had struck the North Carolina Railroad 


102 


GENERAL IT. S. GRANT. 


above Salisbury, captured that place with all its stores, 
released its prisoners, and effectually barred Johnston’s 
further retreat. In the Southwest, General Canby, act- 
ing under his direction, in concert with the fleet under 
Admiral H. K. Thatcher, had, after a siege of about two 
weeks, captured Spanish Fort, . Blakely, and Mobile, the 
surrender being made on the 12th of April. 

Tho last sad funeral rites for the martyred President 
were hardly passed, when a special messenger from Gen- 
' eral Sherman brought to Washington a memorandum 
' for a treaty between the rebel General Johnston and 
himself, for a complete cessation of hostilities and surren- 
der by all the armies of the rebels. A cabinet meeting 
was called, and although the consummation was greatly 
to be desired, the terms of the memorandum were re- 
garded as objectionable, and it was disapproved. Here- 
‘ upon General Grant went immediat^ely to Raleigh, incog, ^ 
and after consultation with General Sherman, finding 
Johnston desirous of surrendering on the terms which 
he had granted to Lee, directed General Sherman to 
make those terms to the rebel general, and accept the 
surrender without any reference to his presence. This 
matter settled, he returned to Washington, where a few 
days later he received the intelligence of the caj)ture of 
the rebel President. 

A weary round of reviews, receptions, and felicita- 
tions followed. The grand armies of the East and West 
passed in review before the Lieutenant-General in Wash- 
ington, and were sent to their homes rejoicing. He 
visited Galena, and the people escorted him along the 
pavement he had wished to be mayor that he might 
repair, now in thorough order, to his old home, which- 
they had purchased, repaired, beautified, and furnished, 
and now presented to him. St. Louis received him 


HONORS CONFERRED. 


103 


with more than presidential lionors. Philadelphia and 
Washington each presented him with an elegant resi- 
dence, and N^ew York, by the hands of its princely mer- 
cliants, gave him a hundred thousand dollars in Govern- 
ment bonds. To crown all these acknowledgments of 
his services, Congress created, in July, 1866, the grade 
of full General, and on the 25th of that month, he re- 
ceived a commission to a rank higher than that to which 
Washington attained. 


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fai- 


CHAPTER VIIL 


General Grant not elated by the honors received — Reduces the 
army — Tries to keep on good terms with Johnson — Swinging 
round the circle — Suspension of Secretary Stanton — Grant, Sec- 
retary ad interim — Grant surrenders the position to Stanton — The 
President’s rage — The correspondence — Grant avows his sym- 
pathy with the Republicans — A candidate for the Presidency — 
The National Convention — The Republican Platform — Grant’s 
unanimous nomination — His reception of the intelligence — His 
letter of acceptance — His character and personal appearance. 


Amid all the demonstrations of popular approbation, 
General Grant remained as utterly unmoved as when he 
sat upon his horse at Pittsburg Landing and calmly 
calculated the chances of the’ next day’s victory, in the 
midst of apparent defeat. He was one of those whom 
successes and honors could not elate, and no disaster 
could depress. In the autumn of 1865, he had made a 
hurried visit to the Southern States, but his known 
rank had prevented him from learning much that he 
desired to know. As soon as he could disengage him- 
self from the receptions and banquets which were pressed 
upon him, he gave his prompt and efficient attention to 
the reduction of the army to a peace establishment. 
The million of men under arms at the close of the 
rebellion dwindled rapidly until there were less than a 
hundred thousand left, and these were distributed at the 
points where they were most needed. The Freedmen’s 
Bureau was ably sustained. The rights of the newly 
enfranchised loyal men of the South were defended. 


CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE PRESIDENT. 105 


The moral influence of the nation gave new courage to 
the struggling republicans of Mexico, and Maximilian 
was soon compelled to surrender, and became a victim 
to his mad ambition to become emperor. * ' 

General Grant endeavored to keep on good terms 
with his constitutional commander-in-chief, and to co- 
operate with him in the restoration of peace and order. 
At the President’s invitation or quasi-ordier^ he accom- 
panied him in “ swinging round the circle but he 
could neither be commanded nor cajoled into indorsing 
his course or his excesses. When the President, sus- 
pended the Secretary of War, General Grant accepted 
the appointment of Secretary ad interim^ to save the 
office from being filled by some tool of the President, 
who would pervert it to thwart the reconstruction meas- 
ures of Cono^ress. His administration of it was admir- 
able. Economy was studied and combined with great effi- 
ciency. When, in January, 1868 , the Senate decided that 
the President’s reasons for suspending Mr. Stanton were 
insufficient, and that he must be reinstated. General 
Grant, who had constantly maintained the closest friend- 
ship with the suspended Secretary, promptly relinquished 
the place to him, and reported to the President. That 
functionary was full of rage at this step on the part of 
General Grant, and in cabinet meeting and in private 
conversation charged him with a breach of faith. This, 
Grant desired. A correspondence ensued in which the 
frankness and manliness of the soldier were more than 
a match for the chicanery, the craft, and the bitterness 
of the President. 

Up to this time a portion of the Republican party had 
been in doubt in regard to General Grant’s thorough 
adherence to their principles ; but the contents of these 

letters, thus wrung from him, convinced them that he 

6 * 


106 


GENERAL JJ, S. GRANT. 


was fully in accord with Congress on the question of re- 
construction, and that he could be trusted. Thencefor- 
ward there was no thought of any other candidate for 
the Presidency. i 

During the whole impeachment trial, General Grant’s 
course was dignified and in the highest degree honora- 
ble. While fully convinced that the President deserved 
impeachment, he did not allow himself to express any 
opinion or exert any influence which could weigh either 
for or against Mr. Johnson, while the trial was in prog- 
ress. 

At the National Union Republican Convention, held 
at Chicago, May 20th and 21st, 1868, the first action 
was the preparation and adoption of a platform of prin- 
ciples, which embodied in terse and lucid expression the 
views which animate and control the great Republican 

party. They were the following : — 

( 

« 

PLATFORM OP PRINCIPLES. 

The National. Republican Party of the United States, assembled in 

National Convention, in the city of Chicago, on the 21st day of 

May, 1868, make the following Declaration of Principles : — 

I. We congratulate the country on the assured success of the re- 
construction policy of Congress, as evinced by the adoption, in the 
majority of the States lately in rebellion, of Constitutions securing 
equal civil and political rights, to all, and it is the duty of the Gov- 
ernment to sustain those institutions and to prevent the people of 
such States from being remitted to a state of anarchy. 

II. The guaranty by Congress of equal suffrage to all loyal men at 
the South was demanded by every consideration of public safety, of 
gratitude, and of justice, and must be maintained; while the ques- 
tion of suffrage in all the loyal States properly belongs to the people 
of those States. 

III. We denounce all forms of repudiation as a national- crime ; 
and the national honor requires the payment of the public indebted- 


REPUBLICAN PLATFORM. 


107 


ness in the utmost good faith to all creditors at home and abroad, 
not only according to the letter but the spirit of the laws under which 
it was contracted. 

lY. It is due to the labor of the nation that taxation should bo 
equalized, and reduced as rapidly as the national faith will permit. 

Y. The national debt, contracted, as it has been, for the preserva- 
tion of the Union for all time to come, should be extended over a fair 
period for redemption ; and it is the duty of Congress to reduce the 
rate of interest thereon, whenever it can be honestly done. 

YI. That the best policy to diminish our burden of debt is to so 
improve our credit that capitalists will seek to loan us money at low- 
er rates of interest than we now pay, and must continue to pay so 
long as repudiation, partial or total, open or covert, is threatened or 
suspected. 

YII. The Government of the United States should be administer- 
ed with the strictest economy ; and the corruptions which have been 
so shamefully nursed and fostered by Andrew Johnson, call loudly 
for radical reform. 

Ylir. We profoundly deplore the untimely and tragic death of 
Abraham Lincoln, and regret the accession to the Presidency of An- 
drew Johnson, who has acted treacherously to the people who elect- 
ed him, and the cause he was pledged to support ; who has usurped 
high legislative and judicial functions; who has refused to execute 
the laws ; who has used his high office to induce other officers to ig- 
nore and violate the laws ; who has employed his executive powers 
to render insecure the property, the peace, liberty, and life of the cit- 
izen ; who has abused the pardoning power ; who has denounced 
the National Legislature as unconstitutional ; who has persistently 
and corruptly resisted, by every means in his power, every proper 
attempt at the reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion ; who 
has perverted the public patronage into an engine of wholesale cor- 
ruption ; and who has been justly impeached for high crimes and 
misdemeanors, and properly pronounced guilty thereof by the vote 
of thirty-five Senators. 

IX. The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers, 
that, because a man is once a subject he is always so, must be re- 
sisted at every hazard by the United States, as a relic of feudal 
times, not authorized by the laws of nations, and at war with our 
national honor and independence. Naturalized citizens are entitled 


108 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


to protection in all their rights of citizenship, as though they were 
native-born ; and no citizen of the United States, native or natural- 
ized, must be liable to arrest and imprisonment by any foreign pow- 
er for acts done or words spoken in this country ; and, if so arrest- 
ed and imprisoned, it is the duty of the Government to interfere in 
his behalf. 

X. Of aU who were faithful in the trials of the late war, there 
were none entitled to more especial honor than the brave soldiers and 
seamen who endured the hardships of campaign and cruise, and im- 
periled their lives in the service of the country ; the bounties and 
pensions provided by the laws for these brave defenders of the na- 
tion, are obligations never to be forgotten ; the widows and orphans 
of the gallant dead are the wards of the people — a sacred legacy be- 
queathed to the nation’s protecting care. 

XL Foreign immigration, which in the past has added so much to 
the wealth, development and resources and increase of power to this 
republic, the asylum of the oppressed of all nations, should be fos- 
tered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy. 

XII. This Convention declares itself in sympathy with all op- 
pressed peoples struggling for their rights. 

(The following resolutions were unanimously added.) 

Resolved^ That we highly commend the spirit of magnanimity and 
forbearance with which men who have served in the rebellion, but 
who now frankly and honestly co-operate with us in restoring the 
peace of the country and reconstructing the Southern State govern- 
ments upon the basis of impartial justice and equal rights, are re- 
ceived back into the communion of the loyal people ; and we favor 
the removal of the disqualifications and restrictions imposed upon 
the late rebels in the same measure as their spii’it of loyalty will di- 
rect, and as may be consistent with the safety of the loyal people. 

Resolved, That we recognize the great principles laid down in the 
immortal Declaration of Independence, as the true foundation of dem- 
ocratic government ; and we hail with gladness every effort toward 
making these principles a living reality on every inch of American 
soil. 

This platform having been adopted by unanimous vote 
the next business in order was the nomination of a can- 


NOMINATION FOE THE PEESIDENOY. 


109 


didate for the Presidency. It was proposed to nominate 
General Grant by acclamation, but the rules of the Con- 
vention not permitting this, the roll of the States and 
Territories was called, and each in succession cast its 
entire vote for him, and at the close the President of the 
Convention announced, “ You have six hundred and 
fifty votes, and you have given six hundred and fifty 
votes for Ulysses S. Grant.” Such unanimity on the 
first ballot has never occurred, we believe, except in the 
case of Washington. 

On the reception of the intelligence in Washington, 
the General manifested no excitement or elation ; his 
principal anxiety seemed to be in regard to the platform, 
and on reading that, he declared that it met his hearty 
approval. To the addresses of congratulation made him 
from all quarters, he replied with exceeding brevity, and 
when the officers of the Convention who had 'been ap- 
pointed a committee to announce to him his nomination, 
called upon him, his oral reply was brief, but thoroughly 
appropriate. Ilis formal letter of acceptance of the nom- 
ination has hardly ever been excelled in terseness, pith, 
and comprehensiveness. It is as follows : — 

To Gen. Joseph E. Hawlev, President National Union Repvhlican 
Convention : — 

In formally accepting the nomination of the National Union Re- 
publican Convention of the 21st of May inst., it seems proper that 
some statement of views beyond the mere acceptance of the nomina- 
tion should be expressed. The proceedings of the Convention were 
marked with wisdom, moderation, and patriotism, and I believe ex- 
press the feelings of the great mass of those who sustained the coun- 
try through its recent trials. I indorse the resolutions. If elected 
to the office of President of the United States, it will be my endeavor 
to administer all the laws in good faith, with economy, and with the 
view of giving peace, quiet, and protection everywhere. In times 


110 


GENERAL U. S. GRANT. 


like the present it is impossible, or at least eminently improper, to lay 
down a policy to be adhered to, right or wrong, through an adminis- 
tration of four years. New political issues, not foreseen, are con- 
stantly arising : the views of the public on old ones are constantly 
changing, and a purely administrative officer should always be left 
free to execute the will of the people. I have always respected that 
will, and always shall. Peace and universal prosperity — its sequence 
— with economy of administration, will lighten the burden of taxa- 
tion, while it constantly reduces the national debt. Let us have 
peace. With great respect, your obedient servant, 

U. S. GRANT. 

Washington, D. C., May 29, 1868. 

There can be no question from his conduct, his acts, 
as well as his words, that General Grant is in full ac- 
cord with the Republican party ; that he fully approves 
of the action of their representatives in Congress in 
relation to reconstruction and impartial suffrage ; that 
he has no sympathy with repudiation or any measures 
looking that way ; that he is earnest in his determina- 
tion to protect our citizens of foreign birth in all their 
rights, and that he desires a permanent peace based on 
right and just principles. His strong common-sense, 
his clear judgment, his remarkable appreciation of 
character, and his skill in always selecting “ the right 
man for the right place,” his calmness and freedom 
from impulse, his steady tenacity of purpose, and his 
wonderful executive ability, are all traits which emi- 
nently fit him for the responsible position which, if his 
life is spared, he is evidently destined to fill. 

In person General Grant is rather below the middle 
size, but of firm, well-knit figure, with a pleasant coun- 
tenance, a firmly-set mouth and chin, clear gray eyes, 
brown hair, and a full beard, inclined to auburn. 

He is an admirable horseman, and has a passion for 


HIS CHARACTER. 


Ill 


fine horses. He smokes almost incessantly ; but in- 
dulges in no other amusement or dissipation, save an 
occasional game of billiards. He is strictly temperate 
and abstemious, and it is the testimony of those com- 
posing his military family, that during the whole war 
no intoxicating drink passed his lips. Though quiet, 
reticent, and thoughtful, he is quick and prompt in ac- 
tion. His health is almost uniformly good, and he has 
a fine, vigorous constitution, and remarkable powers of 
endurance. 

There is not a particle of jealousy in his composition. 
He accords most heartily to his lieutenants all the 
honors they can claim, and even turns honors meant 
for himself upon them. A man of less real greatness 
and magnanimity, placed in his position, would have 
winced under the encomiums showered upon Sherman 
and Sheridan, especially when comparisons not in his 
favor were drawn, as they have been ; but he only 
honors these brave generals the more. 



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i ; 


HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX. 


I ' ; 

. CHAPTER I. . . 

‘ k - ' ■ > * ‘J ' i ! ! . if 8. ' 

' « « V 

F ' 

•Mr. Colfax a representative man — His birth— His ancestry — The 
V child-wife — The young widow — His affection for his mother — 
Early school-days — His mother’s second marriage — Removal to 
the West — Schuyler a clerk — Removal to South Bend — Schuyler 
^deputy Auditor — The debating society — “The gentleman from 
Newton” — Senate reporter — Contributes to newspapers— Becomes 

editor and proprietor of the St. Joseph Valley Register — Embarrass- 

* • 

ments — Debts — Eire — Eventual ' success — The character of his 
paper— ’His abundant labor on it. * 

, J . . ‘ w ' » 

*i« 

In Schuyler Colfax we have a representative man 
— a specimen of what free institutions will produce — 
whom we need not fear to compare with the best prod- 
ucts of any monarchy on the globe. He is essentially 
a man of the people ; of good arid honorable, but ' not 
of affluent lineage, inured to toil from, childhood, yet 
thoughtful and studious ; courteous and gentle to all, 
whether of high or lowly birth ; as thoroughly a gentle- 
man in manners as any man of either hemisphere ; elo- 
quent in debate, quick in perception, ready in thought 
and plan, but always frank, open, fair, and impartial ; a 
man of such magnetic nature that he draws all men to 
him inevitably, and unites them to his fortunes ‘‘as 


114 


nON. SCnUYLER COLE AX. 


with hooks of steel;” in brief, a noble, high-minded, 
brave, generous, manly, Christian man. 

Schuyler Colfax was born in North Moore Street, 
New York City, March 23 , 1823 . His grandfather. 
General William Colfax, had been, during the whole 
Revolutionary War, the commander of Washington’s 
body-guard, and is often mentioned in terms of regard 
and confidence by the General in his letters. He mar- 
ried, after the war, Hester Schuyler, a cousin of General 
Philip Schuyler, and his son was named from both 
parents, Schuyler Colfax. This son was early trained 
to business, and while yet young attained to a position 
of honor and trust in one of the New York City banks. 
His prospects being fair- for acquiring a fortune, he 
married, early in 1822 , a young but beautiful girl, and, 
though his child-wife was but fifteen, the happy couple 
took upon them the cares of housekeeping in the quiet 
and retired suburb of New York City known as North 
Moore Street. Their bright hopes for the future were, 
however, destined to speedy disappointment, for, before 
the close of the year 1822 , Mr. Colfax was called to die. 
In deep sorrow, and with but scanty provision for her 
support, the young widow remained in the house now 
become so sad and lonely, and in March, 1823 , she gave 
birth to a son, upon whom, in remembrance of his dead 
father’s virtues, she bestowed his father’s name. 

The child was healthy and joyous, affectionate in his 
disposition, ready and apt to learn, and so fond of his 
child-mother, that their intimacy and association seemed 
more like that of a loving boy for his elder sister, than 
of a child for his mother. It is worthy of note that this 
tender deference and afiection has grown with Mr. Col- 
fax’s groAVth, and strengthened with his strength, and 
nothing can be more beautiful than his chivalric cour- 


REMOVAL TO THE WEST. 


115 


tesy to his mother, in public and in private, amid all 
the heavy responsibilities and cares of his exalted 
position. 

The early school-days of young Colfax (all his school- 
days, indeed, for his attendance in scliools ceased with 
his tenth year) were passed in the school of the Public 
School Society, in Crosby Street, for in- those days Ward 
schools had not been dreamed of. “ He was,” says one 
of his schoolmates, now a prominent merchant in New 
York, ‘‘ a good scholar, quick to learn, and always at 
the head of his class,” and a fragile, daxen-haired boy, 
seemingly too delicate for the rough-and-tumble life of 
this work-a-day world. 

When he Avas ten years old, his mother married 
again, her second husband being a J\[r. MattheAVS, the 
proprietor of a small store in NeAV York. He was soon 
attracted by the Avinning and pleasant Avays of his step- 
son, and took him, young as be was, into his store as a 
clerk. Here the hours for improvement were scanty ; 
but they were well improved, and while no duty Avas 
neglected, eA^ery leisure moment was occupied with 
books. 

In 1836, Mr. Matthews, attracted bv the gloAvinor ac- 
counts then given of the beauty, fertility, and rapid 
growth of population in the valley of the St. Joseph 
River, in Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana, re- 
solved to emigrate thither Avith his family. The region 
was then mostly a Avilderness; but it is now the garden- 
spot of the Northwest. The Matthews family settled 
at first at Ncav Carlisle, St. Joseph County, Indiana, 
and here for four years Mr. MattheAvs conducted a coun- 
try store, and Schuyler Avas again a clerk. His oppor- 
tunities for self-improvement by study Avere some av hat 
greater than in NeAV York, for there were more and 


116 


HON. SCHITTLEK COLFAX. 


longer intervals of leisure ; and though hooks were not 
abundant, yet so diligent a student managed to pick up 
more knowledge and culture than could have been 
expected. 

In 1841, Mr. Matthews was elected county auditor, 
and removed to South Bend, the county seat. His 
step-son was appointed his deputy, and gave himself to 
the study of law, both in its general principles and its 
particular application to the duties of the auditor’s 
office, that he soon became an undisputed authority on 
all questions of local law. 

A debating society was one of the inevitable institu- 
tions of a village like South Bend. The elements for a 
successful association of the kind were already there, 
and in a happy hour some one of its constituent members 
proposed to organize it on the model of a House of Repre- 
sentatives, rather than in the ordinary form. The propo- 
sition met with general approval, and Mr. J. D. Defrees, 
since Government Printer, then a young lawyer, was 
elected speaker; Schuyler Colfax was of course an active 
and interested member, and, as “ the gentleman from 
ISTewton,” took a prominent part in the debates, and 
young as he was, soon became authority in all matters 
of parliamentary law and usage. ' This was»in 1843, and 
for the two years following he was employed, during 
the winter, as Senate reporter, at Indianapolis, for the 
State Journal^ which had passed into the hands of his 
friend, Defrees. This aided him greatly in his mock 
legislature at home, and laid the foundation for that 
skill and readiness in deciding all parliamentary ques- 
tions, which have, with his other qualities, made him 
the ablest and most popular speaker of the National 
House of Representatives. 

Meantime, he was casting about for a more permanent 


A NEWSPAPER EDITOR. 


117 


• » 

profession. The practice of law had no particular charm 
for him ; but he had already begun to be a valued con- 
tributor to the local paper of South Bend, and to the 
State Journal, He had, from the first, clear and logical 
views, and a happy, pleasant way of “ putting things,” 
that made his articles sought for. In 1845, before he 
had attained his twenty-second year, an opportunity 
came, which, improved, became the turning-point of his 
destiny. The local paper of South Bend, though at first 
conducted with ability, had latterly fallen off in interest 
and subscribers, till it had at this time a list of but two 
hundred and fifty. Young Colfax purchased it, and 
entered at once upon the severe and generally ill-paid 
drudgery of conducting a country newspaper. He had 
never learned the printer’s trade, but he acquired a suf- 
ficient familiarity with it in the years that followed, to 
be able to assist in getting* up the paper when help was 
scarce, or there had been unusual delay. 

It was up-hill work at first. New subscribers came in, 
in considerable numbers, and advertisements increased; 
but it was the era of credit, and in the West, at least, 
the cash principle had not been adopted in the publica- 
tion of newspapers. So it happened that at the end of 

the year, Mr. Colfax found himself embarrassed by a 

» 

heavy debt, which the amount due from his delinquent 
subscribers and advertisers would have enabled him to 
pay with ease, but which pressed heavily upon him. 
Eventually, he was able to lift this load, and his paper 
prospered ; but a few years later his office was burned, 
and, being uninsured, was a total loss. His popularity 
and credit enabled liim to go on again immediately, and 
in a short time he was more prosperous than ever. 

From the first he directed all Ins energies to making 
a good paper. The St Joseph 'Valley Register (the 


118 


HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX. 


name' he. gave it) was Whig in its politics ; but its col- 
umns were never .defiled by any scurrility, never sullied 
by any coarseness or discourtesy, in discussion of politi- 
cal themes. He was siyrrounded by Democratic papers 
which often attacked him with violent personal abuse ; 
but the most careful readers of his paper testify that he 
never rendered railing for railing. Always -dignified 
and gentlemanly in his editorials, he was also genial 
and humorous, and in that at first obscure country 
paper appeared some of the ablest editorial articles on 
great political questions, to be found in any paper in 
the country. 

He made his paper, too, a suitable and popular one 
for the family. Temperance, and the pleasures and de- 
lights of the home circle, were duly remembered, and in 
process of time it came to pass that the Register was 
regarded throughout that entire region as- the best fami- 
ly paper published. All this was not accomplished with- 
out great and constant toil. Far into the lioiirs of night, 
this patient, industrious worker wrought, and disciplin- 
ing his mind by his constant thought and study, he 
hammered out, by his incessant labor, those- rare jewels 
of eloquence which have so often delighted both reader 
and hearer. For eighteen years he was thus engaged, 
and his careful and painstaking exertions eventually 
brought him reputation and a moderate competency. 




% 




f * f 




CHAPTER II. 


Mr. Colfax a Whig in his early political career — A delegate to the 
National Convention of 1848 — Member of Constitutional Conven- 
tion — Nominated for Congress — Defeated because of his opposi- 
tion to the Black Laws — The Democratic majority greatly reduced 
— Secretary of National Convention of 1852 — The Democratic Con- 
gressman from his district — His vote on the Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill — Demand for Mr. Colfax — His election to Congress — Tho 
contest on the Speakership — Ilis first speech — His successive 
re-elections to Congress — The “ Butternut Ticket ” — Ilis solicitude 
for recruits — Ilis re-election — Elected Speaker — Repeated re- 
election to that office — Causes of his popularity — Measures ho 
advocated — His relations with Mr. Lincoln — His patriotism — 
“The Soldier’s Friend” — Soldiers’ Aid Societies — Christian Com- 
mission — His address to the House, in December, 1865 — His ex- 
pression of opinion on the question of universal suffrage. 

Though a Whig, and deeply interested in the princi- 
ples of the Whig party before his majority, Mr. Colfax’s 
public political services did not begin till 1848, when 
he was chosen a delej^ate to the AVhiof National Con- 
vention which nominated General Taylor for the Presi- 
dency. On taking his seat in that convention, he was 
made one of its secretaries. He worked zealously for Gen- 
eral Taylor’s election, and had the happiness of know- 
ing that his labors aided in aclneving the success of his 
candidate. In 1850 he was elected a member of the con- 
vention which framed the present Constitution of Indi- 
ana. lie took an active part in its debates, and opposed 
with all his energy and ability the unmanly clause pro- 
hibiting free men of color from entering the State. In- 


120 


HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX. 


diana was, at this time, under strong pro-slavery influ- 
ences, and this atrocious measure was carried in the 
State by ninety thousand majority, receiving the in- 
dorsement of a majority of eight thousand in Mr. Col- 
fax’s own consrressional district. Yet, true to his con- 
victions, he voted against it, though he was at the. time 
a candidate for Congress, in a district which was demo- 
cratic by a thousand majority. 

He had been nominated for Congress by the Whigs 
of that district, in 1851, and had for a competitor Dr. 
Graham iN*. Fitch, one of the most adroit and unprinci- 
pled democratic politicians and wire-workers in the 
West. Dr. Fitch believed that this vote of Colfax 
asrainst the “ Black Laws ” would be sufficient to defeat 
him, and he used it mercilessly against him throughout 
the canvass. But despite this shock to their prejudices, 
the vounsr editor had so won their confidence that Dr. 

f o 

Fitch’s previous majority of over a thousand dwindled 
to two hundred and thirty-eight. 

In the National Whig Convention of 1852, Mr. Colfax 
was again a member and secretary, and in the presidential 
campaign which followed, he did his part, manfully, to 
secure the election of General Scott. He refused to be 
a candidate for the next Congress, and the wily Fitch, 
who had withdrawn from the canvass, from the appre- 
hension of defeat by his youthful competitor, was suc- 
ceeded by a Mr. Eddy, nominated as a Free Soil Demo- 
crat, who was carried in by a majority of nearly twelve 
hundred. 

This was the era of the great Kansas-Nebraska swin- 
dle, and Mr. Eddy’s constituents urged him to oppose 
it. Hundreds of letters were written to him, insisting 
on his adhering to the principles he had professed; and 
when, during the pendency of the bill, he made a short 


ENTERS CONGRESS. 


121 


visit to his home, the more intelligent portion of the 
voters of the district reiterated their entreaties to him 
to stand firm against this great fraud ; yet so infatuated 
was this man, that on his return he voted for it and for 
all the measures of a similar character. 

This treachery to his constituents aroused their indig- 
nation, and there was n general demand that Schuyler 
Colfax should consent to run for Congress next time. 
The recreant representative had the hardihood to be a 
candidate for re-election, and the canvass was conducted 
by the two candidates in person tlirougliout the district. 
At the election Colfax Avas carried in by 1,766 majority, 
a change in the vote of the district from the previous 
election, of about 3,000. 

He entered the XXXI Ytli Congress in December, 
1855, and was a participator in that fierce triangular 
struggle, Avhich resulted, on the 2d of February, 1856, 
in the election of Nathaniel P. Banks as Speaker, after 
a conflict of two months, Avhich more than once 
threatened to terminate in bloodshed. Thoimh a new 

o 

member, Mr. Colfax’s knoAvledge of parliamentary 
tactics, and his fertility of resource, once and again 
saved the Republicans (Avith Avhom, henceforth, he al- 
Avays acted) from defeat, and contributed to Mr. Banks’s 
election. In June, 1856, Mr. Colfax delivered his first 
formal speech in the House, on the “ Bogus laAvs of 

Kansas,” and so admirably did it demonstrate the 

« 

Aveakness and Avickedness of the party in power, and 
their outrages upon eA^ery principle of free government 
in Kansas, that it Avas adopted by the National Com- 
mittee as their most efiective and eloquent campaign 
document for the ensuing presidential campaign, and 
half a million copies of it Avere circulated through the 
country in the summer and autumn of 1856. No mem- 
6 


122 


HON. SCHTJYLER COLFAX. 


ber of Congress, either before or since, has ever had 
such a compliment paid to his first speech. But the 
discussion of which this speech was a part, demonstrated 
also his claim to rank as the ablest debater in th,e House 
of Representatives. 

In 1856 , he was re-elected by 1,036 votes over 
Stewart, the strongest man the Democrats could bring 
out in the district, and in 1858 , had a majority of 1,931 
votes over Walker, the democratic candidate. In 1860 
he took a prominent part in the canvass for Mr. Lincoln, 
speaking almost constantly, and writing editorials whose 
influence was felt over half a continent. At the Con- 
gressional election of that year he was re-elected by 
3,402 majority over Cathcart, and yet so genial and 
courteous was his course during the canvass, that, in 
1862 , Cathcart took the stump in his behalf. In 1862 , 
during the absence of more than fifty thousand of In- 
diana’s best citizens in the army, the Peace Democrats 
rallied in all their strength, and uniting upon what was 
known as the “ Butternut Ticket,” endeavored to carry 
the State, and to prevent the sending of any further re- 
enforcements to the Army. The patriotic Governor 
Morton and Mr. Colfax united in their eflbrts to put 
down this treasonable conspiracy and keep Indiana firm 
and true to the Union. Both were indefatigable in their 
labors. “ At this time,” says a friend who knew him 
intimately, “ disaster had sapped the enthusiasm of 
army and people. Taking the district rostrum, he 
passed rapidly around among his people like a military 
evangel, pleading for freedom, for the country, and for 
the army, forgetful of self and solicitous only to recruit 
our thinned lines of battle. Friends, believing that his 
re-election was more valuable to the cause than a few 
Indiana volunteers could be to the army, almost sharply 


HIS POPULARrrY. 


123 


remonstrated against a course which, they thought, 
would secure his undeserved defeat. The characteristic 
reply, unstudied for eftect, because made in private, was 
that he preferred that he, hot our brave soldiers, should 
be in the minority, and that recruiting should go briskly 
and immediately forward.” 

This noble spirit of self-sacrifice was not suffered to 
go unrewarded. Although the Peace Democrats had 
marshaled their hosts and put their strongest man 
(Turpie) forward as his competitor, and, encouraged by 
his forgetfulness of self, boasted loudly that the Repub- 
lican pet should be beaten, he was elected by 229 
majority ; and when he took his seat in the XXXVIIIth 
Congress he was elected by a large majority (including 
three of the Democrats) Speaker. To that high position 
he was re-elected, almost without opposition, in the 
XXXIXth and XLth Congresses. In 1864 , he was again 
re-elected to Congress over Turpie by 1,680 majority, 
and, in 1866 , over the same competitor by 2,148 major- 
ity. With the expiration of the present Congress (in 
March, 1869 ), Mr. Colfax will have served fourteen 
years in the House of Representatives, during six of 
which he has occupied the Speaker’s chair. 

This extraordinary popularity in his own district and 
in Congress could only have been attained by faithful 
service of the cause and party which elected him, and by 
untiring exertion in behalf of those great measures of 
right and justice which underlie all party action, and 
which he had defended from his youth. His magnetic 
personal influence was and is undoubtedly great, but it 
was not sufiicient to accomplish such results as we have 
seen. 

In Congress his course has always been manly, 
straightforward, and sensible. ISTever forgetting the 


124 


HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX. 


motto of the old Saxon Duke, that Straightforward 
makes the best runner,” he has never descended to any 
subterfuge or trick, to any devious or sinuous ways of 
gaining a success ; he has uniformly based his arguments 
for a course, on the rightfulness of it, tried by the 
highest tests, and while he is never guilty of cant or 
hypocrisy, he reveres truth and religion, and is not 
ashamed to avow his belief. The Homestead laws 
found in him a valiant champion ; the Pacific railroads 
and every other just measure for promoting the interests 
of the West, have been ably defended by him during 
his whole Congressional career, and but for his urgent 
appeals in their behalf, it may well be doubted whether 
that great enterprise for uniting the Atlantic and Pa- 
cific by iron bands would have secured such important 
aid, or would have made such rapid progress toward 
completion. • 

When Mr. Lincoln was elected to the Presidency for 
the first time, Mr. Colfax’s name was strongly pressed 
on him (without Mr. Colfax’s knowledge) for Postmas- 
ter-General, but his previous selection of his Secretary 
of the Interior, Hon, Caleb Smith, from Indiana, ren- 
dered it impossible for him to give a second cabinet 
appointment to a citizen of that State ; and though he 
offered other appointments to Mr. Colfax, he soon found 
that he preferred to retain his position in the House of 
Representatives. Through the whole of the war Mr. 
Colfax was the most trusted friend of the President. 
To him Mr. Lincoln always turned when harassed by 
hasty friends or misrepresented by virulent enemies, and 
that confiding trust, that reliance upon the cool judg- 
ment, wise foresight, and earnest patriotism of his 
young friend* never ceased, till the youthful statesman 
kneeled by the bedside of the dying hero and martyr, 


THE soldier’s FRIEND. 


125 


so cruelly torn from a nation which had just begun 
fully to appreciate the nobleness of his character. 

But that which most endeared Mr. Colfax to his con- 
stituents and to the country was his unswerving 
patriotism in the darkest period of the nation’s history. 

Throughout the war he ever urged legislation which 
would inspire the army to noble deeds, uplift our 
stricken people, demoralize the enemy and intimidate 
meddlesome foreign powers. No man ever deserved 
more fully than he, the name of the “ Soldiers’ F riend.” 
The ’ sick, the maimed, the wounded soldier, whom 
some overfed official had turned away because of some 
verbal informality in his papers, and denied him his 
hardly-earned pension, never came in vain to the Indiana 
representative, even when he had the added cares of the 
Speakership upon his hands. Time was always found 
to adjust the matter with the Department, where his 
application was sure of success, and the poor crippled 
hero went away with his pension, and not unfrequently 
with an added sum from the Speaker’s own private re- 
sources ; the unwounded soldier, wronged by some of 
the technicalities of military or civil law, which he does 
not fully understand, applies to “ the Soldiers’ Congress- 
man,” and Ids affairs are unraveled and his wrongs 
righted. The Soldiers’ Aid Societies, in despair at the 
insufficiency of their supplies to meet the thick-coming 
woes of the battle-field or the demands .of the hospitals, 
call on him to come to the rescue, half doubting, the 
while, whether they have not trespassed too much on 
the few hours of needful rest which he had reserved 
for himself ; but their call meets a ready response, and 
by night-travel and the most skillful husbanding of his 
time, he reaches the gathered multitude at the ap- 
pointed hour, sways their hearts by his eloquence, and 


126 


HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX. 


draws from them ample resources for the work of 
holy charity and patriotism. Does a commission seek 
in the name ‘ of Christ to hallow the sword with the 
Cross, to lessen the horrors of battle, to win the ear of 
authority, to bring comfort and solace to the dying, 
and prepare the sick or terribly wounded for their 
final account, and for this purpose to enlist in this great 
enterprise the entire Christian community, — the busy 
Speaker of the House of Representatives responds, and 
in distant cities, or in the crowded hall of Representa- 
tives at Washington, pours out those burning, thrilling 
words, which reach the hearts not only of their hearers 
but of the nation. 

In his more special duties as the Speaker of the House 
of Representatives, he has, while exhibiting the strictest 
impartiality, never forgotten for a moment his duties 
and privileges as a patriot and statesman. The closing 
paragraph of his address to the House on the occasion 
of his second' election as Speaker seems to us one of 
the grandest and 'finest bursts of genuine eloquence on 
record. He had alluded in the beginning of his ad- 
dress, 'which was very brief, to the change in their cir- 
cumstances ; that the XXXVIIIth Congress had closed 
with the stern cloud of war still lowering over them, 
but that after nine months? absence, the new Congress 
had met, rejoicing, that from shore to shore in our land 
there was peace. He had reminded them of the duties 
before them in the reconstruction of the States lately in 
rebellion, and closed with this eloquent peroration : — 

Heroic men by hundreds of thousands have died that the Repub- 
lic might live. The, emblems of mourning have darkened White 
House and cabin alike; but the fires ‘of civil war have* melted every 
fetter in the land, and proved the funeral pyre of slavery. It is for 
you, Representatives, to do your work as faithfully and well, as did 


ADDRESS TO CONGRESS. 


127 


the fearless saviors of the Union in their more dangerous arena of 
duty. Then we may hope to see the vacant and once abandoned 
seats gradually filling up, until this hall shall contain Representatives 
from every State and district; their hearts devoted to the Union foi 
which they are to legislate, jealous of its honor, proud of its glory, 
watchful of its rights, and hostile to its enemies. And the stars on 
our banner, that paled when the States they represented arrayed 
themselves in arms against tlio nation, will shine with a more bril- 
liant light of loyalty than ever before. 

It is characteristic of men of practical minds and 
clear common sense, that while never very far in 
advance of the people whom they represent, they have 
a faculty of so stating their principles that they will 
convince the judgment of the masses and bring them up 
to their stand-point. Mr. Colfax did this briefly, but 
admirably, in his speech of welcome to Congress, in De- 
cember, I 860 . The question of the complete enfranchise- 
ment and giving of the sufii’age to freedmen, was one to 
which the masses had not at that time fully come up, but 
Mr. Colfax foresaw that this was to be the next step, 
and he thus stated it : — “ The Creator is leading us in 
Ilis OAvn way rather than our own. He has put all 
men on an equality before Divine law, and demands 
that we shall put all men upon the same equality be- 
fore human law.” 


f J 



CHAPTER m. 

Mr. Colfax’s popularity — His generous gifts — The general desire 
that he should be the nominee for the Yice-Presidency — The 
balloting at Chicago — The nomination on the fifth ballot — Mr. 
Colfax sends the intelligence to his mother — His reply to the 
congratulations of his friends — Speech to the Committee of the 
Soldiers and Sailors’ Convention — His letter of acceptance — His 
private character — His personal appearance — His resemblance to 
Whittier’s “ Hero.” 

» 

We have seen how, in his own town and county, in 
his congressional district, and in Congress, Mr. Colfax 
has unconsciously drawn the 'hearts of all true men to 
him. It remains that we should show how he has at- 
tached the nation to himself by his fairness, manliness, 
generosity, and unfailing geniality and kindliness. His 
labors for the Sanitary and Christian * Commissions 
during the war, and his own bounteous gifts from his 
moderate income to every organization that would aid 
the soldier, did much to endear him to the loyal people 
of the North; and when, after an overland trip to the 
Pacific coast, he prepared that eloquent descriptive ad- 
dress which, under the title of “ Across the Continent,” 
he has delivered so many times in all parts of the coun- 
try, the desire to hear him was enhanced by the knowl- 
edge that, in a majority of instances, the entire proceeds 
of the lecture were to go into the treasury of some de- 
serving charity. In his case it has, indeed, been verified 
that 

The act of mercy is twice blessed : 

It blesses him that gives and him that takes.” 


NOMINATED FOR VICE-PRESIDENT. 


129 


This modest and unaffected generosity has endeared 
him to thousands who would otherwise have thought 
or cared little for him. 

For two or three years past he has been spoken of in 
all parts of the country as a fit man for the most ex- 
alted stations in the gift of the people. When it was 
finally settled, months before the Chicago Convention 
'of May 20th, 1868, that General Grant would be the 
candidate for the Presidency, the hearts of the people 
.turned at once toward Mr. Colfax for the Vice-Presi- 
dency, as the man of all others most to be trusted. 
Objections were made to taking both candidates from 
adjacent States, but these possessed very little weight. 
Other names were suggested, some of them of men who 
had. rendered great services to the nation, and would 
liave filled the station well; but not for one moment 
did the hearts of the people turn from Schuyler Colfax ; 
and though the other candidates at the convention had 
a large support for a time, there would have been 
great disappointment all over the country had any 
other name prevailed. As it was, he was nominated on 
the fifth ballot, receiving, after the changes had been 
made by the delegates of the different States, so soon 
as it was found that he had a plurality, the following 
vote out of 650, the whole number cast ; — 


Colfax 522 

Fenton 75 

Wade 42 

Wilson .'. 11 


' '!* J 

650 

On the reception of the intelligence in Washington, 
Mr. Colfax’s first act was to write a note, announcins: 


130 


HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX. 


the vote, to his mother, who, he said, had been anxious 
to hear the result. 

That evening a company of members of the House 
visited his residence to coimratulate him. The im- 

O 

promptu speech in which he replied to their congratula- 
tions is so admirable a resume of the principles of the 
party of which he is now one of the standard-bearers, 
that we should do him injustice if we did not quote it : — 

My Friends : — I thank you with all the emotions of a grateful 
heart for this flattering manifestation of your confidence and regard. 
I congratulate 3^011 on the auspicious opening of the eventful cam- 
paign on which we are entering. In the Chicago Convention, repre- 
senting the entire continental area of the Republic, every State, 
every Territory, every district, and every delegate, from ocean to 
ocean, declared that their first and only choice for President wms 
Ul}"sses S. Grant. Brave and yet unassuming; reticent, and ^’’et, 
when necessary, firm as the eternal hills, with every thought, and 
hope, and aspiration for his country, with modesty only equaled by 
his merits — it is not extravagant for me to say that he is to-day, of 
all other men in the land, “ first in war, first in peace, and first in 
the hearts of his countrymen.*’ His name is the very sy'nonym of 
victory, and he will lead the Union hosts to triumph at the polls as 
he led the Union armies -to triumph in the field. But greater even 
than the conqueror at Vicksburg, and the destroyer of the Rebellion, 
is the glorious inspiration of our noble principles, animated by the 
sublime truths of the Declaration of Independence. Our banner 
bears an inscription more magnetic than the names of its standard- 
bearers, which the whole w'orld can see as it floats to the breeze, 
“ Liberty and Loyalty, Justice and Public Safety.” Defying all preju- 
dices, we are for uplifting the lowly and protecting the oppressed. 
History records, to the immortal honor of our organization, that it 
saved a nation and. emancipated a race. We struck the fetter from 
the limb of the slave, and lifted millions into the glorious sunlight 
of liberty. We placed the emancipated slave on his feet as a man, 
and put into his right hand the ballot, to protect his manhood and 
his rights. We staked our political existence on the reconstruction 
of the revolted States — on the sure and eternal corner-stone of 
loyalty — and we shall triumph. I know there is no holiday contest 
before us ; but with energy and zeal, with principles that humanity 


ADDRESS TO THE SOLDIERS. 


131 


will prove, and that I believe God will bless, we sliall go through 
the contest conquering and to conquer, and on the 4th day of 
March next the people’s champion will be borne by the people’s 
votes to yonder White House, that, I regret to say, is now dis- 
honored by its unworthy occupant. Then, with peace and confi- 
dence, we may expect our beloved country to enter upon a career of 
prosperity which shall eclipse the most brilliant annals of our past. 
I bid you God speed in this work ; and now, good night. 

Not less happy and appropriate was his brief reply to 
the Committee of the National Soldiers and Sailors’ 
Convention, which had coincided in the nominations at 
Chicago. After thanking them for their visit and 
the expressions of their confidence in him, lie con- 
tinued : — 

“Great as was the obligation of the country to those who stood 
by the Government in its gloomiest hours of trial, far greater is the 
debt of gratitude it owes to its heroic defenders, who returned from 
bloody battle-fields, to be hailed as the saviors of the Union. From 
all over the land they went forth, leaving happy homes and loving 
families, and all to save the Republic from disruption, and to pre- 
vent our beautiful banner becoming the winding-sheet of the world’s 
best hopes. Young and old, in the earlier years of youth and the 
maturer years of middle age; some in the freshness of life’s Juno, 
and others in the ripe maturity of life’s October, they offered their 
lives to the country by thousands and hundreds of thousands. They 
liave passed away, and the whole land. South and North, is filled 
with graves, that tell us with expressive silence of the sacrifices that 
patriotism has hallowed. You represent their brave survivors; and 
if the people’s voice should ratify the nomination of their distin- 
guished comrade and myself, I shall hope, by fidelity to principle and 
devotion to tlie nation, to prove that the confidence you have reposed 
in me has not been misplaced. 

Ills letter of acceptance of tbe nomination, addressed 
to the President of the Chicago Convention, was not, as 
such letters so often are, an unmeaning form, but is in- 


132 


HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX. 


stinct with the life and spirit of its writer. It. is as fol- 
lows : — 

Hon. J. R. Hawley, President of the National Union Republican Con- 
vention 

Dear Sir: — The platform adopted by the patriotic Convention 
over which you presided, and the resolutions which so happily sup- 
plement it, so entirely agree with my views as to a just national 
policy, that my thanks are due to the delegates as much for this 
clear and auspicious declaration of principles as for the nomination 
with which I have been honored, and which I gratefully accept. 
When a great Rebellion, which imperiled the national existence 
was at last overthrown, the duty, of all others, devolving on those 
intrusted with the responsibilities of legislation, evidently was to re- 
quire that the revolted States should be readmitted to participation 
in the Grovernment against which they had erred, only on such a 
basis as to increase and fortify, not to weaken or endanger, the 
strength and power of the nation. Certainly, no one ought to have 
claimed that they should be readmitted under such rule that their 
organization as States could ever again be used, as at the opening 
of the war, to defy the national authority or to destroy the national 
unity. This principle has been the pole-star of those who have in- 
flexibly insisted on the Congressional policy your Convention so 
cordially indorsed. Baffled by Executive opposition, and by per- 
sistent refusals to accept any plan of reconstruction proffered by 
Congress, justice and public safety at last combined to teach us that 
only by an enlargement of suffrage in those States could the desired 
end be attained, and that it was even more safe to give the ballot to 
those who loved the Union than to those who had sought ineffectu- 
ally to destroy it. The assured success of this legislation is being 
written on the adamant of history, and will be our triumphant vindi- 
cation. More clearly, too, than ever before, does the nation now 
recognize that the greatest glory of a republic is, that it throws the 
shield of its protection over the humblest and weakest of its people, 
and vindicates the rights of the poor and the powerless as faithfully 
as those of the rich and powerful. I rejoice, too, in this connection, 
to find in your platform the frank and fearless avowal that natural- 
ized citizens must be protected abroad, at every hazard, as though 
they w'ere native-born. Our whole people are foreigners, or de- 


LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 


133 


scendants of foreigners ; our fathers established by arms their right 
to be called a nation.. It remains for us to establish the right towel- 
come to our shores all who are willing, by oaths of allegiance, to 
become American citizens. Perpetual allegiance, as claimed abroad, 
is only another name for perpetual bondage, and would make all 
slaves to the soil where first they saw the light. Our national ceme- 
teries prove how faithfully these oaths of fidelity to their adopted 
land have been sealed in the life-blood of thousands upon thousands. 
Should we not, then, be faithless to the dead if we did not protect 
their living brethren in the full enjoyment of that nationality for 
whicli, side by side with the native-born, our soldiers of foreign 
birth laid down their lives. It was fitting, too, that the representa- 
tives of a party which had proved so true to national duty in time 
of war, should speak so clearly in time of peace for the maintenance, 
untarnished, of the national honor, national credit and good faith as 
regards its debt, the cost of our national existence. I do not need 
to extend this reply by further comment on a platform which has 
elicited such hearty approval throughout the land. The debt of 
gratitude it acknowledges to the brave men who saved the Union 
from destruction, the frank approval of amnesty, based on repent- 
ance and loyalty, the demand for the most thorough economy and 
honesty in the Government, the sympathy of the party of liberty 
with all throughout the world who long for the liberty we here 
enjoy, and the recognition of the sublime principles of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, are worthy of the organization on whose ban- 
ners they are to be written in the coming contest. Its past record 
can not be blotted out or forgotten. If there had been no Republi- 
can party, Slavery would to-day cast its baleful shadow over the re- 
public. If there had been no Republican party, a free press and free 
speech would be as unknown, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, 
as ten years ago. If the Republican party could have been stricken 
from existence when the banner of Rebellion was unfurled, and when 
the response of “ No coercion ” was heard at the North, we would 
have had no nation to-day. But for the Republican party daring to 
risk the odium of tax and draft laws, our flag could not have been 
kept flying in the field until the long-hoped-for victory came. 'With- 
out a Republican party, the Civil Rights bill — the guarantee of 
equality under the law to the humble and the defenseless, as well as 
to the strong — would not be to-day upon our national statute-book. 
With such inspiration from the past, and following the example of 


134 


HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX. 


the founders of the Republic, who called the victorious General of 
the Revolution to preside over the land his triumphs had saved from 
its enemies, I can not doubt that our labors will be crowned with 
success ; and it will be a success that shall bring restored hope, con- 
fidence, prosperity, and progress. South as well as North, West as 
well as East, and above all, the blessings, under Providence, of na- 
tional concord and peace. 

Y ery truly yours, 

SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

Washington, D.C., May 29, 1868. 

With a few words descriptive of his private character 
and personal appearance, we close this brief sketch of 
one of Nature’s truest noblemen. Mr. Colfax has proved 
himself wortliy of the highest esteem and admiration, in 
all the social relations of life. He has been an ex- 
emplary and affectionate son, a thoughtful and loving 
brother, a devoted and tender husband — whose deepest 
earthly sorrow was the loss, five years since, of one of 
the best of wives — a firm and enduring friend. 

Genial, frank and joyous in his demeanor, he is, 
nevertheless free from all convivial vices. From boy- 
hood, he has been a stanch temperance advocate, and 
has given his powerful influence freely to the promotion 
of total abstinence. From early youth he has been a 
religious man, connected with the Reformed (Dutch) 
Church, and has been active in all the measures of Chris- 
tian benevolence. He has the faculty of winning uncon- 
sciously the love and esteem of all who are brought in 
contact with him. Few men have so thoroughly the 
reverence and esteem of the women of the nation as he ; 
and this, not because he is given to complimenting 
them or addressing small talk to them, but because 
they know intuitively that he is a good, true, noble- 
hearted man, who honors the sex in all his relations 
toward it. They believe in him, and the man whom 


PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 


135 


woman believes in, she consciously or unconsciously 
worships. “ If American women could vote, Schuyler 
Colfax would be elected President, ” says an intelligent 
and brilliant woman, and the opinion thus expressed, 
is undoubtedly true. 

In person, Mr. Colfax is under the medium height, 
of lithe, active form and figure, with brown hair, a 
broad, intellectual forehead, a blue, liquid, open, gen- 
erous eye, a face, frank and full of character, a mouth 
strongly inclined to smile at the least provocation, a 
voice of wonderful sweetness, whose* every tone re- 
minds you of the music of silver bells, a manner gracious, 
easy, and self-possessed, and which puts his visitor per- 
fectly at ease. He could not be discourteous, yet he is 
firm, decided, energetic, and true as steel to the right. 
A malignant Copperhead published recently an account 
of a call which lie pretended he had made upon him, 
and professed that, though he was a soldier, Mr. Col- 
fax treated him very rudely, and dismissed him curtly 
with the remark, that “ he had no time to fool away 
upon soldiers.” Mr. Colfax lias taken the pains to 
show up the gross falsehoods of this story, but he need 
not have been at that trouble. Every one who has 
ever seen him would know instinctively, that of all men 
in America, he was the most unlikely to ti'eat any man, 
and especially a soldier, rudely or unkindly. 

Such in body, mind and soul, is the man whom the 
Republicans of the Union have chosen to bear up, with 
the Warrior-Statesman of our time, the banner of 
Freedom and Equal Rights to all Like Whittier’s 

Hero,” 


Walking his round of duty, 
Serenely, day by day, 


136 


HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX. 




< ' With the strong man’s hand of labor 
i. . : And childhood’s heart of play. , 

As waves in stillest waters, 

As stars in noonday skies, * . . 

All that wakes to noble action _ 

In his noon of calmness lies. 

Wherever outraged nature 1 .. 

' Asks word or action brave, ^ ^ ^ 

Wherever struggles labor, 

= / • 

Wherever groans a slave,— 

^ Wherever rise the peoples, 

Wherever sinks a throne, . , 

■ • . ■ ' ► ' ' 1 if (■ 

The throbbing heart of Freedom finds , 

An answer in his own. 



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THE GREAT CAMPAIGNS. 


PUBLISHED UNDER THE SANCTION OF GEN. SHERMAN. 









AND 


HIS CA.MI^A.iaiSrS: 


BY 

Col. S. M. BOWMAN and Lt.-Col. R. B. IRWIN. 

1 Yol. 8vo; 512 Pages. Cloth, $3.00. Half Calf, $5.00. 

With. Splen.<iicl Steel I^orti*aits of* 

Lieut.-General ^YlL T. SHERMAN, Major-General J. M. SCHOFIELD, 

Major-General 0. 0. HOWARD, “ II. W. SLOCUM, 

JOHN A. LOGAN, F. P. BLAIR, Jr., 

J. C. DAYIS, “ * II. J. KILPATRICK, 

I’U.A.lSrS, ETC. 


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This work — written by Col. I>owm«n. Gen. Sherman’s persfmal frienO, and Lt. Col. Irwin, one 
of our ablest military writers — is the complete ojficiitl liUtory of tliis j^'rand army as a whole, and in 
all its details. Every Corps, Division, Bricrade, and Bejriment is awr.rded its full share of credit and 
praise, the routes of marcli are carefully followed, the battl^iS and skirmishes are described with the 
vividness of actual partieii)atit)ii, and the whole narrative is enlivened by the c(»n.Mth‘Ss incidents, 
both sad and mirthful, that were an inevitable accompaniinent of such cumpaiirns. 

Gen. Sherman's opinions aiid policy on all questions of |»ublic concern are fully made known 
by communications from niinself and otherwise, and discriminatinjr bioirraphical sketelios of all the 
prominent commanders ai’e sriven. Every desired inforn;.ition in reir.anl to tin's irrcat Army, its 
Leader, Commanders, Marches, Fiirhtirijjs, and Victories, is cf)nt:iined in lliis volume, a\ hich is com- 
plete and unique. Many things hitherto not understood are liere made plain, and all the various 
preparations and movements are jdaced in their proper light and position. 

N’o other o^cial and authentic Hifttory of thii^ great Army will he puhlUhed — for no other 
writers have access to the |»rivate and olheial papers of the several commanders — all such infor- 
mation is furnished for this worlc exelusinely. 

The following letter from General Sherman shows the authentic and official char.actor of the 
work : — 

Lancaster, Ohio, July 31, 1S65. 

C. B. Richardson, Esq., New York : — 

Sir: — Col. S. M. Bowman, an acquaintance of mine since 1S5.3, and more recently in the ser- 
vice of the IT. S., has had access to my Order and Letter Books, embracing co])ics of all o)-dcrs made 
and letters written by me since the winter of lSCl-2, Avith a view to publish a memoir of my Life 
and Services, and no other person has had such an opportunity to rc.ad my secret tliouirlits and acts. 
I believe him to be in possession of all authentic facts that can interest the general reader. 

I am, (fee., 

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General. 

THE WORK HAS BEEN THOROUGHLY REVISED BY GEN. &HERMAN, 

AND CAN BE RELIED UPON IN EVERY PARTICULAR. 

NO OTHER WORK HAS ANY CLAIM TO OFFICIAL ACCURACY. 

To all who have served, in any capacity, in these brilliant campaiirns, the work will be invalu- 
able, while to all who have had relatives or fri(‘n<ls so engaged, it will be of absorbing interest and 
value. It is a record of brilliant achievements in which every citizen will feel a life-long pride. 

Richardson & Company, Publishers, 4 Bond st., n.y 

Sent, Post-paid, to any Address, on Receipt of the Price. 









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Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2010 

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